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Q:
How could I make a drawing canvas?
My question is related to Change all Options of Plot Dynamically where Mathematica remembers the series of changes in the appearance of a drawing using Plot or similar commands like ParametricPlot etc. I would like to generalize my question:
I want to use the Show command for making a nice drawing. I am going to use Plot, ParametricPlot, ListPlot, Graphics, etc., so I need
a popup menu with these commands
An InputField for the data or functions or graphics primitives to be ploted and
a popup menu with the corresponding options. For example, if I select ParametricPlot then I will take the list of options for this command.
The series of changes in the drawing have to be "recorded" so that the user could make any possible adjustments at any time!
How would I build such a canvas on which the plots can be added and modified step-by-step?
A:
This may help get you started. I once did something similar, but with a different UI, for my multivariable calculus class, but the students' inclination to make things as complicated as possible was sometimes greater than my ability to fix bugs. It was easier and more useful to teach those students how to use Mathematica.
I did not incorporate the popup menu for editing options from my answer here. This was to keep the focus here on adding and editing graphics objects. Since it is the OP's project, I felt that the decisions involved in incorporating such functionality belonged in the OP's hands.
Some sort of simple database seemed needed, which is maintained in the variable allplots. I opted for the following as the basic entry:
{ graphics head, graphics arguments, options, evaluated plot }
The evaluated plot is included so that the code is evaluated only once after the arguments or options are edited. The first entry in allplots is used only for editing options to pass to Show that affect the overall plot.
I didn't spend much time figuring out just which control structures/variables are best. As a result, there are somewhat kludgy dummy variables used merely as an easy way to label the controls that allow the editing of parts of a database entry (graphics, options) and adding a new graphic. Again the OP can decide the exact UI that is desired.
A delete button would be a nice addition.
With[{
$head = 1,
$args = 2,
$opts = 3,
$plot = 4},
Manipulate[
Show[If[Length@allplots > 1, allplots[[2 ;; -1, $plot]],
Graphics[]], ReleaseHold@allplots[[1, $opts]]],
{{allplots, {{Graphics, Null, {}, Graphics[{}]}}, None},
{{edit, 1},
Thread[Range[Length@allplots] ->
Join[{"Overall"},
Show[#, Ticks -> None, FrameTicks -> None, ImageSize -> 40] & /@
allplots[[2 ;; -1, $plot]]]], PopupMenu},
{{graphics, Null},(* dummy variable *)
InputField[Dynamic[allplots[[edit, $args]],
(allplots[[edit, $args]] = #;
allplots[[edit, $plot]] = allplots[[edit, $args]] /.
{Null -> Graphics[{}],
Hold[{args__}] :> allplots[[edit, $head]][args,
Evaluate @ ReleaseHold @ allplots[[edit, $opts]]]}) &],
Hold[Expression], Enabled -> edit > 1, ImageSize -> Full,
FieldHint -> "select graphics to edit"] &},
{{options, Null},(* dummy variable *)
InputField[Dynamic[allplots[[edit, $opts]],
(allplots[[edit, $opts]] = #;
allplots[[edit, $plot]] = allplots[[edit, $args]] /.
{Null -> Graphics[{}],
Hold[{args__}] :> allplots[[edit, $head]][args,
Evaluate @ ReleaseHold @ allplots[[edit, $opts]]]}) &],
Hold[Expression], ImageSize -> Full] &},
{{new, Null},(* dummy variable *)
PopupMenu[
Dynamic[new, createObj[#, allplots] &], {Graphics, Plot, ParametricPlot, ListPlot}] &},
Initialization :> ( (* structure: { head, Hold[{args}], opts, Graphics } *)
defaultObj[Graphics] = {Graphics, Hold[{{}}], {}, Graphics[{}]};
defaultObj[Plot] = {Plot, Hold[{x, {x, 0, 1}}], {}, Plot[x, {x, 0, 1}]};
defaultObj[ParametricPlot] = {ParametricPlot, Hold[{{t, t^2}, {t, 0, 1}}], {},
ParametricPlot[{t, t^2}, {t, 0, 1}]};
defaultObj[ListPlot] = {ListPlot, Hold[{{{0., 0.}, {0.5, 0.7}, {1., 1.}}}], {},
ListPlot[{{0., 0.}, {0.5, 0.7}, {1., 1.}}]};
SetAttributes[createObj, HoldAll];
createObj[head_, database_] := AppendTo[database, defaultObj[head]]
)
]
]
Note on edit
One of the subtle things about Manipulate that can frustrate the unaware programmer is that controls are formatted before the Initialization code is executed. That means that the code for the controls should not depend on definitions in the Initialization code. From a fresh kernel, the old control declaration,
{{allplots, {ReplacePart[defaultObj[Graphics], {$args -> Null, $opts -> {}}]}}, None},
initializes allplots to {defaultObj[Graphics]} (literally). Whenever it is used later, after Initialization, it evaluates to
{{Graphics, Hold[{{}}], {}, Graphics[{}]}}}
I had intended it to be as above, with the second element Null so that the field hint is displayed in the InputField for graphics whenever "Overall" is selected.
| 55,050,314 |
Deen never drinks wine and doesn’t eat swine, but if you don’t bring him his motherfucking cognac, he’ll kill you.
I think it’s safe to say that few folks still give any fucks about Rick Rawse in 2014. If you disagree then you’re either a stan or as delusional as the man himself. After all, none of the singles that were supposed to get Mastermind off the ground took off and if we’re keeping it all the way 100, Rawse has been dropping dud ass singles for the last 3 years or so. Some are better than others, but I’d probably select “9 Piece” as his last really good and successful single. On the current album cycle, he’s dropped … man, fuck it. Y’all didn’t care when he actually dropped the songs, so I don’t see how me bloviating about said failed singles is going to change anything. Let’s just say they’ve all flopped and leave it at that – despite all manner of features (Jay-Z, Future and even Jeezy). Nonetheless, he’s still what we’d consider an important artist in today’s rap industry. And I concur, even though I’m still not entirely sure why, given his origins and my continuing distaste for his existence.
Despite the cold reception his album is about to endure, someone has to listen to this shit and tell you if it sucks or not. I’m here to tell you that it sucks. I mean, you could spend the time downloading and listening to this shit or you could just take it from me: it sucks. Rawse’s saving grace, even at his most amateur, was his immaculate ear for beats. That seems to have deserted him and his rapping, while much improved and occasionally impressive, isn’t consistently excellent enough to carry average production.
But the weak ass music isn’t even the most egregious shit to me. So much about this album offends the rap nerd within. So much so that I need to list shit out for y’all:
The ‘remake’ of Biggie’s “You’re Nobody Til Somebody Tries To Kill You”: I don’t understand why anyone would ever consider this a good idea. Diddy is the worst. And I don’t care about the quality of the song; some shit deserves to remain sacred. I think Biggie’s tiny ass catalogue is one of those things.
Dancehall and Reggae: Somehow, Rawse managed to get Sizzla AND Mavado on a BORING song. “Mafia Music 3″ is aggressively boring. I can’t list all the rap + dancehall combos we’ve heard over the years, but this is easily the least memorable one ever.
Gunshot effects: they’re all over the album. It’s nauseating. For a guy that supposedly got shot at (I still think that was a calculated set up – niggas missed everything during what was supposed to be an assassination attempt), Rawse is kinda enamored with gunshots. If he really wanted to be a G, he should have recorded the sound of himself fucking seizing on the floor of his private jet and used that in lieu of gunshots. That was a legit threat.
Camp Lo’s “Luchini” hook: French Montana returns to bastardize one of the greatest things in rap history. And right as you’re trying to figure out just how irritated you should be by that shit;
ODB’s ‘Shame on a Nigga’ hook gets dragged in to the morass. This is all very tiring. This must be how folks felt when Michael Bay signed on to do the Transformers movies. I was around for that too, but drugs – I does them.
Then Justice League decides to take a run at reusing the sample from Souls of Mischief’s ’93 Til Infinity’. So much outrage coursing through my veins mane. I can’t take too much more of this shit.
And to make matters worse, Lil Wayne, the undisputed A-list gawd of trash raps, shows up and washes Rawse. Sad. If Wayne washes you in 2014, you need help. He didn’t even crack any dick or pussy jokes.
Then someone let Scott Storch outta storage to lace Rawse with a boring ass beat. I’m beginning to suspect that I’d enjoy Mastermind a lot more if I could afford cocaine.
And for the most egregious offense of all, Rawse thought that it would be appropriate to use Trayvon Martin’s name in a lame ass punchline. I’m not even sure I’m offended or even upset, but given annoying nature of Rawse’s last excursion into the world of controversial rap lines, one would hope he’d think better of being a tasteless hack.
So that’s ten (10) solid reasons why Mastermind sucks. Don’t say I never did shit for you. The album has its moments (The D.Rich productions, Scarface, Z-Ro and Kanye strangling every vestige of DJ Mustard outta their co-production on ‘Sanctified’), but Rawse’s music simply ain’t good enough to keep our attention anymore. Whatever is after running on fumes is what Rawse is on at this point. Kinda where Jeezy was circa TM103. So I guess I’m looking forward to a new Jeezy album now – provided it doesn’t have as many DJ Mustard beats as YG’s album. Mastermind is utterly forgettable. | 55,050,452 |
Q:
Notify service defined in included LWRP recipe
Is there a way to notify a service to restart which is defined by an included LWRP?
I wrote an LWRP called "sidekiq" which sets up a service, like this, and appears to be working fine on its own.
service "#{new_resource.name}_sidekiq" do
provider Chef::Provider::Service::Upstart
action [ :enable ]
subscribes :restart, "template[/etc/init/#{new_resource.name}_sidekiq.conf]", :immediately
end
The problem is I am using it another recipe which I use for deployments, and need it to notify the service defined in the LWRP. I currently have something this
include_recipe "sidekiq"
deploy_revision my_dir do
notifies :restart, "service[myapp_sidekiq]"
end
The problem is at compile time, chef looks at this recipe and gives an error
ERROR: resource deploy_revision[my_dir] is configured to notify resource service[myapp_sidekiq] with action restart, but service[myapp_sidekiq] cannot be found in the resource collection.
I can get rid of the error by defining an empty service in my deployment recipe, like service 'myapp_sidekiq', and everything will work fine when first provisioning the machine. However if I run a deployment and nothing changes in the sidekiq LWRP, the myapp_sidekiq service is never redefined and thus cannot be restarted.
A:
To notify a resource to complete an action, that resource must be defined previously in the current Chef run, and as Tensibai notes not defined inline in it's own run_context
Place holder
The simple way is to create a place holder in your deploy script of your non default provider that has an action of :nothing, but you can notify it later.
service "myapp_sidekiq deploy notifier" do
provider Chef::Provider::Service::Upstart
service_name "myapp_sidekiq"
action :nothing
end
You can also modify the overall default provider for a resource in client.rb if you are using Upstart all the time on a platform that Chef has configured as something else, like systemd
Chef::Platform.set :platform => :yours, :resource => :service, :provider => Chef::Provider::Service::Upstart
There are changes coming in Chef 12 that will let Chef evaluate which service provider to use at run time instead of static configuration. This is basically due to systemd coming along and shaking up something on systems that was once very stable and predicatable.
Be careful of the name you use for resources. If you have multiple service resources defined via the same service name you can run into issues due to they way Chef treats them as clones and you may be running something you didn't expect. If you are using multiple service definitions try naming them something unique for the specific purpose. Then in the attributes, specify the service with service_name
LWRP
If you had a particularly complex resource that you are defining repeatedly and you think you should only be specifying all the generic parameters for it once, you could create your own Light Weight Resource and Provider encapsulating all the generic setup so you can define the resource more easily in recipes:
service_myapp_sidekiq "deploy notifier" do
action :nothing
end
service_myapp_sidekiq "config subscriber" do
action :nothing
subscribes :restart, 'blah'
end
That is a lot of work as you have to create an LWRP action for every underlying action you want to support and as you can see, doesn't make your use case much easier.
Library function
You could also do the same sort of thing with a function in a library that defines the basics of the resource and allows you to add any of the customisations you want (like name).
def create_myapp_service name, action, options = {}
s = Chef::Resource::Service.new "myapp service #{name}"
s. service_name "myapp_sidekiq"
s.provider Chef::Provider::Service::Upstart
s.action action
end
create_myapp_service "deploy", :nothing
Again, these are probably only needed for much more complex resource setups and cases where you repeatedly need to define the same complex resource with small variations.
TLDR: Define a place holder service which does :nothing for the deploy.
| 55,050,630 |
It is a good practice to format SD before installing a new ROM, I had a lot of problems with FC's when testings some custom ROMS, but finally I could save my phone from dying by formatting the SD and checking for errors.
XDA Developers was founded by developers, for developers. It is now a valuable resource for people who want to make the most of their mobile devices, from customizing the look and feel to adding new functionality.Are you a developer? | 55,050,866 |
Welcome to my blog - a place where I chat about my hobbies, craft projects, interests and, just occasionally, a bit about trips out and places visited. Hope you enjoy the chat enough to come back another time.
Tuesday, 14 June 2011
Postcard Notecard - Vintage Style
Good Afternoon to You All,
I made this card last night just to get myself back into the crafting way of things again. Though, to be honest, I did suffer from the occasional withdrawal symptom whilst away. And I did return home refreshed and raring to go so, after all the dreary but necessary chores, unpacking, etc., it wasn't too difficult to get going again.
The postcard topper was one I had, in true Blue Peter style, already prepared. I applied a wash to the watercolour paper with diluted shades of Twilight Blue and Straw Yellow AquaMarkers before stamping the Penny Black's Keepsake stamp. The flowers were water coloured with Twilight Blue too then I distressed the edges with a combination of Tim Holtz's Stormy Sky and Pumice Stone distress ink pads.
The insert is computer generated after scanning the V&A papers. To decorate the back I just folded one of the DPs over from the front.
I must admit I like the look of vintage collage so this card really pleases me. However, after admiring it for a while, the EM did ask me when I was likely to use it, what occasion would it be appropriate for and who would I give it to! Well, I'm not sure - I'll put it away in the box with the rest and maybe one day I'll find a use for it.
According to a certain TV shopping channel Christmas crafting begins today - even though we are still in 'flaming June' and midsummer is still a week or so away!!! Of course, for some of us it started the first week of January and because of my resolution I now have quite a stash of Christmas cards already prepared. However, I've fallen behind by a week because of the holiday so I'll need to get a wriggle on to catch up. So much to do and so little time :)
The EM is at the dentist this afternoon, having a tooth removed, so he'll be needing a bit of TLC afterwards so not sure when I'll be back in my craft space - we'll see how he does.
Hi, many thanks for taking the time to visit today. Your comments are important to me and always appreciated so please don't stop. However, a note to anonymous, of necessity I have had to block you - this is due to a spam overload.
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About Me
AKA The Silver Scrapper, i.e. a silver haired surfing senior citizen who is never happier than when crafting and scrapping in the craft space, and then scribbling about it all. Thank you for taking the time to visit. Need to know something, contact me ... I’d be delighted to hear from you ... Elizabeth. | 55,051,102 |
There's a lot of baggage attached to being a nationalised bank - you are accused of incompetent customer service, low employee motivation and inertia. Then along comes the Verma Committee and labels you one of the weakest public sector banks.
It would be enough for the most hardened employees to throw in the towel right there. The Kolkata-based United Bank of India, on the other hand, decided to focus on its people. The result: over a period of 15 months, it generated one million new accounts. Here's how it happened.
Figure it out
In 1997, United Bank's accumulated losses were Rs 1,434 crore (Rs 14.34 billion). It got rid of the "weak bank" tag in 2002, after posting profits from 1998 onwards, but this was primarily from the money generated by selling government securities.
According to a 1999 report by the Reserve Bank of India, the reasons for United Bank's poor performance were weaknesses in the areas of operations, HR and management (What was left?). In 2004, Business Standard Research Bureau's ranking placed United Bank squarely last in the pack, ranking it 23rd.
Then, in March 2006, United Bank presented a clean balance sheet to a packed press conference in Kolkata. Business had crossed Rs 45,000 crore {Rs 450 billion (up from Rs 37,187 crore (Rs 371.87 billion) in 2004-05)} and the bank's gross non-performing assets had dropped to 4.66 per cent from 6.14 per cent.
The credit-deposit ratio improved from 46.5 per cent to 54.6 per cent. And, for the first time in 14 years, the bank paid a dividend of Rs 46 crore (Rs 460 million) to the government.
As performance improved, United Bank climbed the ladder in Business Standard Research Bureau's ranking as well - it was in10th place in 2005.
Last month, announcing the results for April-December 2005-06 - business stood at Rs 54,190 crore (Rs 541.9 billion) - P K Gupta, chairman and managing director, United Bank of India, announced that the bank is targeting a business of Rs 100,000 crore (Rs 1000 billion) by March 2009.
Getting rid of the losses was the easy part. As mentioned above, sales of government securities ensured that the bank registered profits, but the money was being used to balance earlier losses: accumulated losses of Rs 14,200 crore (Rs 142 billion) in 1997 came down to Rs 278 crore (Rs 2.78 billion) by March 2005.
That's when the bank requested the government to set off the losses against its capital. The government agreed - this escape route of nationalized banks has been used in the past by Dena Bank and UCO Bank as well. "One could wish the bank had exercised this option back in 1997 itself," rues Gupta now.
Room for growth
The real challenge for United Bank, though, was with its people. With over 18,000 people and 1,310 branches, it is one of the most overstaffed banks in the country. The issue wasn't one of laying them off or even downsizing - not really an option in trade union West Bengal, in any case.
Rather, it was to energise them to go seeking fresh business. The track record hadn't been too encouraging, after all: from Rs 22,300 crore (Rs 223 billion) in 2000, business had grown just Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) over the next two years, when the bank mobilised Rs 27,100 crore (Rs 271 billion).
Compare that with State Bank of India: deposits grew from Rs 196,821 crore (RS 1968.21 billion) to Rs 270,560 crore (Rs 2705.6 billion) over the same period. Things clearly needed to change. And fast.
"United Bank employees needed a change of attitude. From being tight-fisted bankers waiting for customers, they needed to switch to a feet-on-street mindset," says Prashant Mishra, professor of marketing, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, who was involved with training the bank's staff.
Mission Million or Mission Impossible?
When Gupta took over as CMD of United Bank in May 2005, he made it clear at his first meetings with regional managers itself that he would be going after the growth. "To increase our business, we need more customers," he would emphasise.
Remember, United Bank isn't - or rather, wasn't - a bank used to the fast life. Known as the "tea bank", it had gotten used to the slow pace of business in East India, as generated by the tea estates and managing agency houses. And then came Mission One Million.
In June 2005, Gupta and his team announced the bank's new goal: one million new savings accounts to be mobilised in the next 12 months. As officers across the bank's 1,300-odd branches threw up their arms in despair, the managing team broke the seemingly-unattainable goal into more manageable targets.
In 2005, United Bank had opened 300,000 new accounts - that meant less than one account a day for each branch. A million accounts, then, would translate into just three or four new accounts everyday for each bank (making allowances for holidays and the like). Now, that seemed more do-able.
Getting started
Even as Mission One Million kicked off, the bank decided to revitalise its tie-ups with Tata AIG and Bajaj Allianz.
Although the associations had been created a couple of years earlier to distribute the insurance companies' products through the bank, little had really been accomplished. United Bank's board then put forward a proposal to the insurance companies - would they train 1,000 bank employees in the finer details of marketing financial products?
Tata AIG and Bajaj Allianz agreed to conduct week-long sessions each, and the bank created a marketing division - a first - under a general manager, to focus on the new products in its portfolio.
Meanwhile, the bank seemed to have acquired a taste for training - after all, points out Gupta, bank employees were reacting to it very favourably. This time, the bank turned to academia. Two hundred high-performing managers were identified from the most efficient branches (the ones generating the most business).
They were then sent to the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, to brush up on market planning, identifying segments, invigorating sales teams and customer relationship management. "The bank realised that it was time for it to realign practices with current demands," points out Mishra.
Which meant bank employees also needed to go back to school for lessons on customer interaction. This time, United Bank turned to rather more unconventional sources. It brought in trainers from leading hotel management institutes to educate its frontline staff on the correct way of greeting customers, dealing discreetly with trouble-makers, and being pro-active with addressing complains.
In addition, the Ramakrishna Mission sent over instructors for introductory lessons on yoga and meditation. "You have to maintain adequate pressure on your people to get them to perform. But never forget that the devil lies in the details," says Gupta.
The CMD realised that first-hand when he read the results of a National Institute of Bank Management study, which had been underway at the time he took charge.
According to the report, most employees of United Bank did not have even basic knowledge about the bank, its management or the products it offered. Of course, this isn't an issue confronting only United Bank - "all public sector bank employees need to be reskilled and retrained," points out Ananda Bhoumik, senior director, Fitch Securities. Still, it was a problem that needed to be addressed and solved immediately.
The result was a "know your bank" test, which has now become a regular twice-yearly exercise. As a form of recognition - and to drive participation - those who scored more than 60 per cent were given a cash prize of Rs 2,000, as well as a signed certificate from the CMD.
Gupta claims that what started, as competition has now become "a natural exercise in staying abreast of changes in the organisation".
There was another welcome fallout of the NIBM study results: it drove home to United Bank the need for constant communication with its people. The bank, therefore, launched more than five intra-department newsletters, which not only tell the employees what is happening in their department at other branches, but also is a medium of communication for top management.
The regular newsletters mark a distinct change in communication style at United Bank - earlier, interaction was limited to announcements of changes in management.
Reaching out
How did all these initiatives help Mission One Million? Gupta and Mishra both point out that United Bank employees now have a distinct bias towards customers - and are more welcoming of new business than before. The results of the training programmes, enhanced communication and empowering initiatives were visible almost immediately.
While the Hooghly region organised 100 customer meets and 12 road shows, apart from local advertising, the Ernakulam branch in Kerala celebrated the bank's nationalisation day by organising a deposit mobilisation camp.
Door-to-door campaigns and camps during important festivals such as Chhath and Sankranti were held in Bihar, while the Kolkata (north) region invited local footballers such as Biswajit Bhattacharjee and Bikas Panji as guests of honour at deposit camps.
Next came a new accounts monitoring system for the head office to get daily reports from each branch, something that was not done earlier. The reports were shared among regional heads and monthly "report cards" were printed and distributed to all employees, which showed everything from the number of new accounts, the regions and branches that fared the best, down to star performers of the month.
"It was a way of recognising excellence and making the process transparent," says Gupta. Here too, United Bank took note of the need for recognition - each month, the five top branches were awarded Rs 5,000 each, to be spent by consensus (choices varied from music systems to family picnics).
Customer management experts point out that the biggest danger in acquiring new customers is to forget existing ones. With a nationalised bank, the challenge of retaining customers is even greater.
Accordingly, United Bank made this a priority area within the Mission One Million goal - it has devised 17 programmes for clerks and six for peons and messengers, all of which focus on customer management.
Among the areas covered were issues like communication, team work and customer service. Six batches of 200 people each have already completed the training and management consultant and trainer S M Devdason claims the difference in attitude is already being noticed in several branches.
Perhaps the most noteworthy change is in the role of the office boy: new uniforms, new attitude (thanks to the training) and now, new designation. The lowly peon is now a United Mitra (friend).
The office "boys" (some of whom have been with the bank for decades) are being educated on the importance of their role: as frontline staff, they are often the first point of contact with the customer and may well help define the customer's entire experience and opinion of the bank and its services.
"We are trying to make them look beyond their job profile and realise how important their role is," points out Gupta.
Of course, it's not been too easy. There has been some resistance from employees and breaking established practices has been tough at times. Devadason points out, for instance, that many managers are still reluctant to conduct feedback meetings with the staff after a training session - although it is mandatory to do so. "Attitudes take time to change," he says.
Still, the results made the effort worthwhile. In July 2006, United Bank had a million new savings accounts - it had generated Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) worth of low-cost deposits. Of course, it was three months past the deadline, but Gupta isn't complaining. "This was Mission Impossible to begin with. So making it happen in an extra 90 days is good enough."
Quickbite
Miles to go. . .
Where financial institutions are into the next phases of IT upgradation, United Bank lags behind in basic facilities such as tele-banking, ATMs, debit cards and mobile banking. While its branches are computerised, they aren't networked. Now, core-banking solutions are planned, with Ernst & Young being roped in as consultant for the project.
Also, the bank will have to step into geographies that have been neglected. Although Gupta is positive United Bank will further penetrate parts of India other than the east and the north-east - where it has 75 per cent of its branches - not much is being done in terms of visibility.
Although there are ads in newspapers in the Hindi-speaking belt, the effort is miniscule. Even in East India, the bank has just the odd ad on Bangla TV channels, which fail to grab attention. | 55,051,436 |
Changing my Twitter bio to “a six at best” in order to save Trump trolls some time.
Deeply considering the lessons of all the Off Broadway plays I have seen about nineteen-thirties Berlin, and of the first four Harry Potter books before they kill Cedric Diggory and we realize things are really serious.
Reënacting the entire plot of “Legally Blonde” but, instead of attending law school at the last minute to win back a guy, doing it to bring down the totalitarian government through a series of court cases.
Going to Trump protests, to voice my anger and to meet hot guys who don’t do comedy.
Looking in the mirror every morning and saying, “In Trump’s America, I am worth nothing.”
Looking in a second, smaller mirror and saying, “I am secretly going to burn this thing down from the inside.”
Dyeing my hair blond so that Trump supporters won’t immediately know that I am not one of theirs.
Finding a boyfriend, so that if Trump builds a Mexican-border wall I can use it in a performance-art piece about breaking up with my boyfriend.
Printing stickers that say “Congratulations, you’re a latent misogynist,” and giving them to people who argue that Bernie would have won in a landslide.
Printing stickers that say “Congratulations, you’re a latent Republican,” and giving them to twenty-five-year-old white men who “love to play devil’s advocate.”
Donating to the A.C.L.U. and Planned Parenthood, and not in the Trumpian sense where I actually use the money to buy a six-foot-tall painting of myself.
Inventing a male birth control whose side effects include weight gain, breakouts, cramps, and depression, and forcing men to stock up on it while it’s still covered by Obamacare.
Fostering relationships with mentors and older relatives, so that when abortion is illegal I’ll have people on whom to pawn off unwanted children.
Reaching out to my friends who are P.O.C. or L.G.B.T.Q. or Muslim or Jewish or female or otherwise vulnerable and telling them that I will fight with and for them.
Reaching out to Donald Trump by mailing him my used tampons. | 55,051,458 |
Meet the Men Who Want to Take Away Your Reproductive Rights
UPDATE: The House bill described below has passed. Though the White House has already threatened to veto the legislation.
The strictest abortion bill in a decade will come to a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives today—the "Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act," which would ban abortion after 20 weeks. Its supporters include men like Republican Rep. Michael Burgess, who argued that male babies masturbate in utero, and can thus feel both pleasure and pain, and Republican Rep. Trent Franks, who declared last week that "the incidence of rape resulting in pregnancy are very low." | 55,051,800 |
Contrary to gossips saying long-running action series “FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano” (FPJAP) is about to end and will be replaced by Judy Ann Santos’ upcoming series “Starla,” ABS-CBN sets it straight that such rumors are not true and that FPJAP will still be extended.
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In a message sent to the media by ABS-CBN’s Head of Corporate Communication Kane Errol Choa, he belied such rumors and further revealed that the production is on a roll with for more creative inputs and that the hit series still enjoys sky-high ratings.
“There is no truth to the rumor that FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano is scheduled to end soon. Coco Martin and the show’s writers are enjoying the process of coming up with creative ideas to make the story more compelling, as well as collaborating with the cast and the production team,” he said.
“FPJAP continues to enjoy high viewership every night, and our Kapamilyas can expect new twists and characters as it goes into its third year,” he added.
Martin’s manager Biboy Arboleda also slammed reports from two news outfits who confirmed the news. /muf
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer & other 70+ titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am & share articles on social media. Call 896 6000. | 55,051,999 |
Developing a High-Throughput Assay for the Integral Membrane Glycerol 3-Phosphate Acyltransferase.
Phospholipid biosynthesis begins with the acylation of glycerol 3-phosphate (G3P). In most Gram-positive bacteria including many pathogens, a membrane protein called PlsY is the only acyltransferase that catalyzes this essential step, making it a potential target for the development of antibiotics. A convenient enzymatic assay should facilitate such drug discovery activities. Previously, we developed a continuous assay by monitoring phosphate, one of the enzymatic product, using a fluorescently labeled phosphate binding protein in a bilayer environment called lipid cubic phase (LCP). However, some intrinsic characteristics of LCP, such as high viscosity, make the assay incompatible with common high-throughput liquid-handling platforms. Here, we adapted the assay by hosting PlsY in detergent micelles, enabling us to conduct the assay using standard multi-channel pipets in a high-throughput manner. With optimal enzyme loading, the reaction velocity was linear up to 30 min. PlsY showed Michaelis-Menten kinetics behavior in micelles with a Vmax of 57.5 μmol min-1 mg-1, and Km of 1.14 mM G3P and 6.2 μM acyl phosphate. The inhibitory product lysophosphatidic acid inhibited PlsY with the IC50 of 19 μM. The results principally demonstrated the feasibility of using the assay for high-throughput screening, and the protocol provided an encouraging starting point for further optimization and validation of the assay for automated platforms. | 55,052,083 |
Methamphetamine (MA) Use Induces Specific Changes in LINE-1 Partial Methylation Patterns, Which Are Associated with MA-Induced Paranoia: a Multivariate and Neuronal Network Study.
The use of psychoactive substances, including methamphetamine (MA) may cause changes in DNA methylation. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of MA use on long interspersed element-1 (LINE-1) methylation patterns in association with MA-induced paranoia. This study recruited 123 normal controls and 974 MA users, 302 with and 672 without MA-induced paranoia. The Semi-Structured Assessment for Drug Dependence and Alcoholism was used to assess demographic and substance use variables. Patterns of LINE-1 methylation were assessed in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and a combined bisulfite restriction analysis (COBRA) was used to estimate overall LINE-1 methylation (mC) while COBRA classified LINE-alleles into four patterns based on the methylation status of two CpG dinucleotides on each strand from 5' to 3', namely two methylated (mCmC) and two unmethylated (uCuC) CpGs and two types of partially methylated loci (mCuC that is 5'm with 3'u and uCmC that is 5'u with 3'm CpGs). MA users showed higher % mCuC and % mCuC + uCmC levels than controls. Use of solvents and opioids, but not cannabis and alcohol dependence, significantly lowered % uCmC levels, while current smoking significantly increased % uCuC levels. MA-induced paranoia was strongly associated with changes in LINE-1 partial methylation patterns (lowered % uCmC), heavy MA use, lower age at onset of MA use, and alcohol dependence. Women who took contraceptives showed significantly lower LINE-1 % mC and % mCmC and higher % uCuC levels than women without contraceptive use and men. The results show that MA-induced changes in LINE-1 partial methylation patterns are associated with MA-induced paranoia and could explain in part the pathophysiology of this type of psychosis. It is argued that MA-induced neuro-oxidative pathways may have altered LINE-1 partial methylation patterns, which in turn may regulate neuro-oxidative and immune pathways, which may increase risk to develop MA-induced paranoia. | 55,052,238 |
VIA| After months of listening to Hillary Clinton plead ignorance as part of her defense for mishandling her emails as Secretary of State, what appears to be a smoking gun has just emerged. The former Secretary of State herself signed a non-disclosure agreement acknowledging her responsibility to ascertain whether information shared by her was, in fact, classified. Moreover, the document Clinton signed clearly lays out stiff criminal penalties for “any unauthorized disclosure” of classified information.
As the nation’s chief diplomat, Hillary Clinton was responsible for ascertaining whether information in her possession was classified and acknowledged that “negligent handling” of that information could jeopardize national security, according to a copy of an agreement she signed upon taking the job.
Experts have guessed that Clinton signed such an agreement, but a copy of her specific contract, obtained by the Competitive Enterprise Institute through an open records request and shared with the Washington Free Beacon, reveals for the first time the exact language of the NDA.
“I have been advised that the unauthorized disclosure, unauthorized retention, or negligent handling of SCI by me could cause irreparable injury to the United States or be used to advantage by a foreign nation,” the agreement states.
Clinton received at least two emails while secretary of state on her personal email server since marked “TS/SCI”—top secret/sensitive compartmented information—according to the U.S. intelligence community’s inspector general.
The State Department said in September that Clinton’s private email system, set up at her Chappaqua, N.Y., home, was not authorized to handle SCI.
The Democratic presidential frontrunner defended her unauthorized possession of SCI and her sending of emails containing classified information by claiming that the information was not marked as classified when it was sent or received.
The language of her NDA suggests it was Clinton’s responsibility to ascertain whether information shared through her private email server was, in fact, classified.
“I understand that it is my responsibility to consult with appropriate management authorities in the Department … in order to ensure that I know whether information or material within my knowledge or control that I have reason to believe might be SCI,” the agreement says.
According to government security experts, the type of information that receives a TS/SCI designation is sensitive enough that most senior government officials would immediately recognize it as such.
“TS/SCI is very serious and specific information that jumps out at you and screams ‘classified,’” Larry Mrozinski, a former U.S. counterterrorism official, told the New York Post in August. “It’s hard to imagine that in her position she would fail to recognize the obvious.”
Right — so once again, either Clinton is lying or she’s entirely incompetent to handle national security information. Or both (yeah, sounds about right to me).
Additional emails on Clinton’s server contained information that was “born classified,” according to J. William Leonard, who directed the U.S. Information Security Oversight Office from 2002 to 2008.
“If a foreign minister just told the secretary of state something in confidence, by U.S. rules that is classified at the moment it’s in U.S. channels and U.S. possession,” Leonard told Reuters in August.
In addition to her SCI agreement, Clinton signed a separate NDA for all other classified information. It contains similar language, including prohibiting “negligent handling of classified information,” requiring her to ascertain whether information is classified and laying out criminal penalties.
It adds, “I will never divulge classified information to anyone unless: (a) I have officially verified that the recipient has been properly authorized to receive it; or (b) I have been given prior written notice of authorization” from the proper authorizes.
Of course, the Clinton campaign has not responded to a request for comment. And it’s unlikely this will get much play with the lamestream media — Clinton’s own Super PAC. Not surprising that this bombshell was dropped on a Friday.
While this new disclosure is just the latest atop a mounting pile of evidence against her, its nature — in black-and-white, in Clinton’s own handwriting — is particularly damning. Clinton and her minions want us to believe this is over following her “performance” at the Benghazi hearings next month, but the FBI — and the conservative media — continue to probe this very serious matter. As we must.
No, this is not about tearing Clinton down for political gain, as she and her minions will claim. This is about protecting our national security and holding those who compromise it accountable. Moreover, it is about protecting our right as citizens to know when our leadership has failed us. And to choose accordingly whom we want to represent us moving forward.
Hillary Clinton’s signing — and subsequent blatant and knowing violation of — the NDA gives us a strong clue as to how closely she will hold an oath were she to become President of the United States. If we allow this woman to take office, this oath — and the presidency — becomes a sad joke.
ELDER PATRIOT – Last week President Trump appeared to be distancing himself from his Attorney General Jeff Session when he told the New York Times: “Sessions should have never recused himself and if he was […]
VIA| IT’S TOUGH TIMES FOR REPUBLICANS WHO ARE EASILY DISCOURAGED BY ALL THE NEGATIVE COVERAGE ON THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION. But one supporter in Michigan had a message for the President this week—and it was a […]
During the months since Former President Barack Obama left office the truth about his corrupt reign has come pouring out from many different sources. The latest news comes from the Inspector General who is claiming […]
Trump certainly is hammering the Democrats down. This bumper sticker is certainly one to make the Left absolutely crazy. In fact, they just can’t seem to help but constantly attack Trump supporters, especially ones that […]
KIRSTERS BAISH| It seems as though Former President Barack Obama may have some regrets after supporting Black Lives Matter. He was so adamant about pushing the cop-hating and white-hating mentality that was the catalyst in […]
KIRSTERS BAISH| One of the promises that President Donald Trump made to Americans was to use tax-payer money judiciously. By promising this, President Trump promised economic government responsibility. Would we really expect anything other than […]
KIRSTERS BAIASH| It’s not news to us that the Clinton family has blood on their hands. They’ve had blood on their hands for years. The family’s “charity organization” now has some major problems arising after […]
KIRSTERS BAISH| The 2016 election was one of the most highly publicized elections in the history of the United States. Perhaps it had something to do with how involved people are on social media, or […]
ELDER PATRIOT – There have been at least three-dozen deaths of Clinton associates that have never been properly explained. There is at least that many more that don’t pass the smell test either. We’re still […]
KIRSTERS BAISH| The Department of Homeland Security in New Jersey has just dubbed Antifa a domestic terror organization and a threat to society. The Antifa group is guilty of brutally attacking Trump supporters on numerous […] | 55,052,514 |
We vernieuwen het stationsgebied aan de centrumzijde van Amsterdam Centraal. Het hele gebied tussen de Schreierstoren en de Droogbak is over zo’n vijf jaar overzichtelijker en aantrekkelijker.
Er komt meer water, meer groen en meer ruimte voor voetgangers en fietsers. Onder het water komt een fietsenstalling voor maar liefst 7.000 fietsen. Knelpunten in het verkeer zijn aangepakt. Sinds 2018 rijden er geen auto’s meer voor het station; bussen en doorgaand autoverkeer zijn verhuisd naar de IJ-zijde. De Westertoegang is verdiept. Er komt een nieuwe tramspoor, nieuwe tramhaltes, nieuwe steigers en kades en het Stationsplein wordt van natuursteen. De Entree sluit qua uitstraling aan op de Rode Loper.
Meer water, lage kades en steigers
Ter hoogte van het Victoria hotel wordt een groot deel van het Prins Hendrikplantsoen uitgegraven. Zo wordt het middelste deel van het Open Havenfront groter en wordt deels de lijn van oude, historische kade weer zichtbaar. Aan het water komen verlaagde kades met enkele steigers.
Fietsenstalling onder water
Onder het water van het Open Havenfront (ter hoogte van het Victoria hotel) komt een grote fietsenstalling. De ingang is ter hoogte van de kruising Prins Hendrikkade / Martelaarsgracht. De fietsenstalling biedt plaats aan 7.000 fietsen en het water erboven blijft diep genoeg voor de passagiersvaart. Naast deze fietsenstalling wordt er ook gewerkt aan fietsparkeerplekken elders in het stationsgebied. Hierdoor kunnen er in 2020 17.500 fietsen gemakkelijk en uit het zicht geparkeerd worden en in 2030 maar liefst 21.500 fietsen.
Prins Hendrikkade en Westertoegang
De meest ingrijpende verandering vond plaats op de Prins Hendrikkade tussen het Damrak en de Martelaarsgracht. Dit deel is afgesloten voor gemotoriseerd verkeer. Voetgangers en fietsers hebben op deze manier maximaal de ruimte. Auto’s die vanaf de Dam naar west willen, gaan via het Damrak rechtsaf naar de nieuwe Odebrug, onder het spoor linksaf door de Michiel de Ruyter autotunnel, weer linksaf door de Westertoegang. Om deze route ook voor hoge voertuigen geschikt te maken, is de Westertoegang verdiept. Op de hele Prins Hendrikkade komen de fietspaden verder van de gevels af te liggen. Zo komt er nog meer ruimte en zicht voor voetgangers.
Stationsplein
Het hele Stationsplein wordt opnieuw betegeld met duurzaam natuursteen, net als de Rode Loper en de voetgangersgebieden aan de IJ-zijde. De bruggen die het stationseiland met de stad verbinden, worden bestraat met grote donkergrijze granieten tegels, om te benadrukken dat de bruggen aparte verbindingselementen zijn tussen het vaste land en het eiland.
Vernieuwde tramhaltes
Op de Prins Hendrikkade en het Stationsplein worden alle tramsporen en haltes – inclusief wissels en bovenleiding - vernieuwd. Wat er nu ligt is “op”, en wordt vervangen door een robuust systeem dat minder onderhoud nodig heeft. De lay-out van de sporen, bovenleiding en wissels worden geoptimaliseerd en kwetsbare delen van het spoor maken we van slijtvast materiaal. Er komt een extra verbindingsspoor tussen oost en west, zodat trams ook van en naar het station kunnen als het gewone spoor tijdelijk niet beschikbaar is. De perrons en haltes worden hoger en breder en daarmee beter zichtbaar, veiliger en beter geschikt voor gehandicapte reizigers. | 55,052,742 |
Prepare for every stage of your physician assistant career with Physician Assistant: A Guide to Clinical Practice, 5th Edition - the one text that takes you from your PA coursework through clinical practice! Concise, easy to read, and highly visual, this all-in-one resource by Ruth Ballweg, Edward M. Sullivan, Darwin Brown, and Daniel Vetrosky delivers the current, practical guidance you need to know to succeed in any setting. New to this edition Navigate today's professional challenges with new chapters on NCCPA Specialty Recognition; Communication Issues; the Electronic Health Record; Patient Safety and Quality of Care; Population-Based Practice; and Physician Assistants and Supervision. Meet ARC-PA accreditation requirements with coverage of key topics such as Student Safety in Clinical Settings, Health Care Delivery Systems, Population-Based Practice, and Mass Casualties/Disasters. Keep up with the PA competencies that are endorsed by the AAPA, PAEA, NCCPA, and ARC-PA. Master key concepts and clinical applications thanks to a succinct, bulleted writing style; convenient tables; practical case studies; and clinical application questions throughout. Retain what you've learned and easily visualize every aspect of clinical practice with a new full-color design and illustrations throughout. Explore global options with expanded coverage of physician assistants in international medicine. | 55,053,019 |
Chondrocyte-mediated collagenolysis correlates with cartilage destruction grades in osteoarthritis.
Osteoarthritis (OA) is associated with destruction of type II collagen-rich hyaline articular cartilage. We hypothesized that classical interstitial collagenases cleave collagen type II, leading to the increased expression of the 3/4 native type II collagen fragment (COL2-3/4C) and the corresponding denatured type II collagen fragment (COL2-3/4M), which could correlate with different cartilage destruction grades. In addition, we assessed whether these fragments could be measured in joint fluid and serve as diagnostic markers. Cartilage specimens were obtained from the femoral heads of hip joints from total hip replacement operations. Articular gliding surfaces of the cartilage were categorized into normal (G0), fibrillated (G1), superficiallyfissured (G2) and deeplyfissured (fissures that reach to the subchondral bone) (G3). A histological scoring of the cartilage was also used. COL2-3/4C and COL2-3/4M were detected by immunohistochemical staining. Dot blotting was used to detect these fragments in joint fluid. COL2-3/4C and COL2-3/4M were found in the perichondrocyte matrix around lacunae. Such COL2-3/4C (p < 0.05) and COL2-3/4M (p < 0.05) immunoreactivity was significantly increased in G3 and G2 compared to GO and G1. A positive correlation (n = 35, Spearman rank correlation) was observed between the histological score and the percentage of COL2-3/4C positive lacunae (r = 0.43, p = 0.01) and COL2- 3/4M positive lacunae (r = 0.53, p = 0.001). All 7/7 joint fluid samples contained COL2-3/4C in dot blots whereas only 4/7 contained COL2-3/4M. Collagenase-cleaved collagen--both native and denatured--increases as the severity of OA increases, assessed using a macroscopic clinical and microscopic histological grading system. Collagen degradation was always most apparent around chondrocytes. Furthermore, the native COL2-3/4C fragment has potential as a joint fluid marker for OA. | 55,053,086 |
CHICAGO (WLS) -- A man was fatally stabbed by his co-worker at a Portage Park business Sunday night, Chicago police said.Police said two men, ages 35 and 37, who were employees of a business in the 5000-block of West Irving Park Road got into a verbal altercation at about 6:50 p.m. Witnesses told police they could hear screaming and yelling coming from the kitchen of the business.The 37-year-old man was seen repeatedly stabbing the 35-year-old man with a knife police said. The victim was transported to Illinois Masonic Hospital, where he later died. Authorities have not released his identity.The suspect was taken into custody and Area North detectives are investigating. | 55,053,091 |
[Antibacterial therapy of patients with complicated diabetic foot].
The main reason for hospitalization and lethality of patients with diabetes mellitus are the infectious complications of the lower limbs. In the period 2000-2005, 147 were treated for complications with the diabetic foot in the Surgical Clinic at the Ministry of Interior Medical Institute. 105 of them were men and 42 - women. The average age of the patients was 67 +/- 8.2. Different number of microorganisms, from 2 to 8, was identified in testing the material from the wound secret. Mixed (anaerobic-aerobic) infection was found in 135 patients (91.8%), and only aerobic infection - in 12 patients (8.2%). Staphylococcus aureus (61%) and Staphylococcus epidermidis (21%) were the most often found ones from the facultative-anaerobic microorganisms in the associations. Bacteroides fragilis (23%), Peptococcus spp. (19%) and Fusobacterium spp. (11%) were the most often found ones from the sporogenic anaerobic microorganisms. The empirical and etiotropic antibacterial therapy, the different combinations of antibacterial preparations and the results of their application were discussed. | 55,053,320 |
Attention everyone: Chris Davis has a new mustache.
It is a very, very good mustache. It's thick, covers his entire lip and stands out from his face like someone Sharpied it on. It's so good that MLB Central simply had no choice but to bring out Stache-cast, the highly scientific analysis tool and cousin of MLB's Statcast™.
Do you think those 17 crumbs are from the same meal, or multiple meals over the course of Davis' day? Well, regardless -- that growth efficiency number is no joke. Here's Davis celebrating a home run on Aug. 9:
There's certainly hair there, and the full-face coverage subdues the mustache slightly. But here's Davis, again post-homer, on Aug. 10:
WOWZA. What do you think Davis is prouder of: His three straight games with a dinger, or the fact that he can pull of a mustache like that? | 55,053,322 |
(ns io.aviso.repl
"Utilities to assist with REPL-oriented development.
If you are using Stuart Sierra's component library, you may want to also require
[[io.aviso.component]]."
(:require
[io.aviso.exception :as e]
[clojure.pprint :refer [pprint write]]
[clojure.main :as main]
[clojure.repl :as repl]
[clojure.stacktrace :as st]
[clojure.edn :as edn])
(:import
(clojure.lang RT)))
(defn ^:private reset-var!
[v override]
(alter-var-root v (constantly override)))
(defn ^:private print-exception
[e options]
(print (e/format-exception e options))
(flush))
(defn pretty-repl-caught
"A replacement for `clojure.main/repl-caught` that prints the exception to `*err*`, without a stack trace or properties."
[e]
(print-exception e {:frame-limit 0 :properties false}))
(defn uncaught-exception-handler
"Returns a reified UncaughtExceptionHandler that prints the formatted exception to `*err*`."
{:added "0.1.18"}
[]
(reify Thread$UncaughtExceptionHandler
(uncaughtException [_ _ t]
(binding [*out* *err*]
(printf "Uncaught exception in thread %s:%n%s%n"
(-> (Thread/currentThread) .getName)
(e/format-exception t))
(flush)))))
(defn pretty-pst
"Used as an override of `clojure.repl/pst` but uses pretty formatting."
([] (pretty-pst *e))
([e-or-depth]
(if (instance? Throwable e-or-depth)
(print-exception e-or-depth nil)
(pretty-pst *e e-or-depth)))
([e depth] (print-exception e {:frame-limit depth})))
(defn pretty-print-stack-trace
"Replacement for `clojure.stacktrace/print-stack-trace` and `print-cause-trace`. These functions are used by `clojure.test`."
([tr] (pretty-print-stack-trace tr nil))
([tr n]
(println)
(print-exception tr {:frame-limit n})))
(defn install-pretty-exceptions
"Installs an override that outputs pretty exceptions when caught by the main REPL loop. Also, overrides
`clojure.repl/pst`, `clojure.stacktrace/print-stack-trace`, `clojure.stacktrace/print-cause-trace`.
In addition, installs an [[uncaught-exception-handler]] so that uncaught exceptions in non-REPL threads
will be printed reasonably. See [[io.aviso.logging]] for a better handler, used when clojure.tools.logging
is available.
Caught exceptions do not print the stack trace; the pst replacement does."
[]
;; TODO: Not exactly sure why this works, because clojure.main/repl should be resolving the var to its contained
;; function, so the override should not be visible. I'm missing something.
(reset-var! #'main/repl-caught pretty-repl-caught)
(reset-var! #'repl/pst pretty-pst)
(reset-var! #'st/print-stack-trace pretty-print-stack-trace)
(reset-var! #'st/print-cause-trace pretty-print-stack-trace)
;; This is necessary for Clojure 1.8 and above, due to direct linking
;; (from clojure.test to clojure.stacktrace).
(RT/loadResourceScript "clojure/test.clj")
(Thread/setDefaultUncaughtExceptionHandler (uncaught-exception-handler))
nil)
(defn ^String copy
"Copies the current contents of the Clipboard, returning its contents as a string.
This makes use of AWT; it will throw java.awt.HeadlessException when AWT is not
available, for example, when the JVM is launched with `-Djava.awt.headless=true`."
{:added "0.1.32"}
[]
(require 'io.aviso.clipboard)
((ns-resolve 'io.aviso.clipboard 'copy)))
(defn pretty-print
"Pretty-prints the supplied object to a returned string.
With no arguments, copies from the clipboard, parses as EDN, and prints the EDN data to `*out*`,
returning nil."
{:added "0.1.32"}
([]
(-> (copy) edn/read-string pprint))
([object]
(write object
:stream nil
:pretty true)))
(defn paste
"Pastes a string in as the new content of the Clipboard.
This can be helpful when, for example, pretty printing some EDN content from a log file
before pasting it into some other editor."
{:added "0.1.32"}
[^String s]
(require 'io.aviso.clipboard)
((ns-resolve 'io.aviso.clipboard 'paste) s))
(defn format-exception
"Passed the standard exception text and formats it using [[parse-exception]] and
[[write-exception]], returning the formatted exception text.
With no arguments, parses the clipboard text and prints the formatted exception
to `*out*` (returning nil)."
{:added "0.1.32"}
([]
(-> (copy)
(e/parse-exception nil)
e/write-exception))
([text]
(-> text
(e/parse-exception nil)
e/format-exception)))
| 55,053,462 |
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Delivering great customer experiences: three steps to business transformation
Matthew Chatterton, Research Director
25 March 2015
Britain’s businesses leaders believe it is time to raise their game in delivering a great service experience to their customers. But what should they be doing to make a difference? Giving their employees the stories and tools to really make a difference for customers, says Matthew Chatterton of Ipsos Loyalty.
Comments 0
What has the recession done to the British workplace?
Jonathan Nicholls, Head of Employee Research
13 November 2014
As we climb out of one of the deepest recessions the country has seen, Jonathan Nicholls, head of Employee Research, has been looking at how the recession has changed the workplace.
Comments 0
About this blog
Ipsos MORI are passionate about researching the Financial Services sector. Using both traditional and innovative research techniques, we help our clients achieve mutually profitable relationships. More than a blog, The Financial Statement expresses our POV on financial current events and topical issues, with a team of contributors from across our practices providing a well-rounded view. We want our audience to comment on our views and, indeed, to challenge us. | 55,053,552 |
Image copyright iStock
Last month SeaWorld announced it was ending its orca breeding programme and said the 29 orcas currently in its parks would be the last. But the company did not step back from its long-held claim that its orcas - also known as killer whales - live long healthy lives. Liz Bonnin was granted unique access to SeaWorld to investigate this claim and weigh the scientific evidence.
Just five months prior to this announcement I was at SeaWorld's Orlando theme park to find out what scientific studies SeaWorld carried out on the welfare of its orcas and to ask for a response to the growing body of independent research on cetaceans - an order of marine mammals that includes dolphins and orcas - which indicates that orcas cannot thrive in captivity.
I asked Dr Chris Dold, SeaWorld's Vice President of Veterinary Services, if he could envisage a time when SeaWorld would no longer keep orcas.
"I don't imagine that future," he replied, "because we know our killer whales are thriving in the habitats where we keep them now."
SeaWorld
The company runs a number of marine mammal parks and animal theme parks in the US
Its three main parks are in San Diego, Orlando and San Antonio
Twenty-three of SeaWorld's 29 orcas live in these three parks, the other six are on loan to the Loro Parque zoo in Tenerife
So why has SeaWorld now made the decision to stop breeding them?
Joel Manby, CEO of SeaWorld, says it's a result of the public's dramatically changing attitudes to orcas since the company started keeping and displaying them in 1964.
"They were feared, hated and even hunted," he says. "Half a century later, orcas are among the most popular marine mammals on the planet. One reason: people came to SeaWorld and learned about orcas up close. Now we need to respond to the attitudinal change that we helped to create."
But perhaps an additional reason for the public's shifting opinion about SeaWorld's orcas is the 2013 film Blackfish, which documented events leading up to the tragic death of Dawn Brancheau, a SeaWorld trainer killed by a bull orca named Tilikum.
Image copyright Alamy Image caption The bull orca, Tilikum, with trainer Jenny Mairot
After the film's release, attendances at SeaWorld fell, as did the company's share price. Like many others, I was moved by the footage and interviews I saw in the film and even went so far as to call, on social media, for SeaWorld to close.
SeaWorld did not take part in Blackfish, so getting the opportunity to hear their side of the story was a welcome development.
I asked Chris Dold why he thought Tilikum attacked and killed Dawn, but he objected to the use of these words. "This was not an attack, this was a terrible accident," he said.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Liz Bonnin speaks to Dr Chris Dold about Tilikum and Dawn Brancheau
So if it wasn't an attack, was it a mistake on Dawn's part? Or was Tilikum behaving somewhat unnaturally?
"Neither of those is true," he said. "There is risk, every day working with animals and those risks are implicit in the size and nature of the animal. Rather than speculate about what happened that day we're focused on putting significant efforts to re-evaluate our approach to safely working with whales."
Tilikum, who was collected from the wild 33 years ago and has lived at SeaWorld in Orlando for 24 of those years, has a tumultuous history. He had already been involved in the deaths of a trainer in a park in Canada and a member of the public in Orlando before pulling Dawn Brancheau into the pool in 2010.
Orca or killer whale?
Sailors once referred to orcas as "whale killers" because they attacked larger whales - over time, however, the words were reversed
In fact, orcas are not whales, they are members of the dolphin family
Nor do they kill humans in the wild
Source: Whales.org
But Tilikum is not unique. In fact, two months earlier, another orca had killed his trainer in a park in Spain. According to SeaWorld's records, orcas injured trainers 12 times between 1988 and 2009. These statistics raise an important question: could the constraints of captivity contribute to abnormally aggressive behaviour, or compromise an orca's psychological health?
I think that orcas are more social than people are Dr Naomi Rose, Animal Welfare Institute
"There's no evidence whatsoever that there is any mental aberration that is a result of living in a zoological park or otherwise," Chris Dold told me. When asked if he could show me the research that might support such a statement he said there was "experiential evidence" and that "over time deep empirical evidence will come forward".
Dr Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist at the Animal Welfare Institute in Washington DC has a different view of the impact of captivity on orcas. She describes orcas as the ants of the mammal world. "I think that orcas are more social than people are. I think their family lives are more important to them than they are for us," she says.
"They cannot be isolated from friends and family because it will in fact cause problems for them. Socially, emotionally, psychologically, physically."
Image copyright iStock
The physical health of SeaWorld's orcas has been brought into question by others too. Images on the internet of orcas' open mouths seem to show broken, worn-down teeth, sometimes with the pulp exposed - a direct route for infection to enter the body.
Worn teeth can be found in some wild orca populations that feed on sharks - over a lifetime, abrasive shark skin will cause the teeth to wear out. Some wild orcas that feed by sucking fish into their mouth can also wear out their teeth eventually, as fish scales repeatedly scrape past their teeth. But SeaWorld's orcas are fed fish directly into their gullets, with their mouths wide open.
Image copyright Alamy
According to Naomi Rose, some break their teeth on the enclosures. "They're chewing the walls, they're chewing on the gates neurotically, persistently, on the concrete walls or metal gates through what we call stereotypic behaviour," she says.
Stereotypic behaviour, which includes repetitive swaying, pacing and licking or biting of walls and bars, is an abnormal behaviour carried out by captive animals. It is most common and acute in wide-ranging carnivores, and many scientists believe it is linked to stress.
But Chris Dold says that SeaWorld's orcas wear down their teeth by manipulating their environment. "Killer whales off the coast of the Canary Islands move rocks in order to get to the fish at the bottom. SeaWorld's killer whales manipulate devices that are in the habitat and explore parts of their habitat. If there's a free component the whales will examine and move it around," he says, referring to devices placed in the orcas' tanks for them to investigate.
Find out more
Wild animal biologist and science presenter Liz Bonnin presents Horizon: Should We Close Our Zoos? which airs on BBC2 at 21:00 on Sunday 17 April. Viewers in the UK can catch up afterwards on the iPlayer.
To date SeaWorld has not published any research about its orcas' dental health to confirm the cause of damage to their teeth.
No studies into the orcas' general welfare have been published either. Dold told me: "It's a box that needs checking, for sure, but we have over the years been publishing the baseline information."
Now that SeaWorld has announced the end of its breeding programme, does any of this matter?
SeaWorld currently has 29 orcas, half of which are aged 15 or under, and one of which will soon give birth. How long they can be expected to live is disputed. According to a recent SeaWorld paper its captive-born orcas should live to around 47 years, which is comparable to orcas in the wild. But the method used to reach this figure is controversial and independent scientists are preparing papers to contest the claim. Yet even if a more accurate lifespan for captive orcas is 20 to 30 years, as some scientists argue, SeaWorld will have orcas in its parks for some considerable time yet.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A baby killer whale swimming with its mother in 2004 at SeaWorld in San Diego, California
In August 2014, the company announced a plan to double the size of its orca tanks as part of its "Blue World" project. The new tanks were going to be 15m deep and 107m across. Orcas are known to travel 100 miles (160km) a day, and according to Naomi Rose, these marine mammals need to travel such distances not just to feed but to stay healthy.
Back in October Chris Dold was enthusiastic about these new tanks. "There are a couple of parts of this habitat that are particularly exciting because of what technology is allowing us to do right now," he said. "What we're referring to as the dynamic enrichment programme. It's largely based on the science that's out there in terms of understanding how animals thrive in zoos, a developing field of environmental enrichment."
As it becomes more and more evident that many of the big animals... should not be in captivity, I think that the public will react in similar ways David Hancocks, Ex-director of Woodland Parks Zoo in Seattle
Unlike the existing flat-walled tanks, which are devoid of any features, the new pools were set to have objects that could be attached to the bottom - puzzles of sorts, for the orcas to interact with - as well as a giant turbine propelling water so that the orcas could swim against the flow. But now that the breeding programme has come to an end, so it seems have plans for Blue World. The signs are that SeaWorld's remaining orcas will live out their lives in the existing tanks.
Naomi Rose wants to see the orcas retired to seaside sanctuaries.
"Sanctuaries are models that are out there for elephants, chimpanzees, big cats and we can do it for orcas," she says.
But SeaWorld makes it very clear on its website that it is opposed to sea pens. "First and most important, our killer whales are thriving right where they are… These are environments that are home for our animals and that allow us to care for them properly," it says "There are other reasons why sea pens are a poor choice for our whales, including exposure to pollution, ocean debris and life-threatening pathogens."
Joel Manby insists the orcas will be well taken care of."For as long as they live, the orcas at SeaWorld will stay in our parks," he says. "They'll continue to receive the highest quality care, based on the latest advances in marine veterinary medicine, science and zoological best practices."
Some in the zoo world see the changes at SeaWorld as indicative of what might happen at other zoos.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The life expectancy of zoo elephants is half that of those working in Burmese timber camps
With a substantial body of scientific evidence about the negative effects of captivity on other wide-ranging carnivores like polar bears and big cats, and with recent research showing that the life expectancy of zoo elephants is half that of those working in Burmese timber camps, David Hancocks, ex-director of Woodland Parks Zoo in Seattle, thinks it's just a matter of time before big changes take place in other zoological institutions.
"As it becomes more and more evident that many of the big animals that are the standard stars of zoos should not be in captivity, I think that the public will react in similar ways to the way they have reacted to the revelations about what was happening in SeaWorld," he says.
He imagines zoos of the future with fewer big charismatic animals, giving attention to small species that do well in captivity, in environments that are stimulating for them, and even with very small life form exhibits that showcase the interdependence and interconnectedness of the natural world. The next question perhaps, is how much and how quickly zoos, and the public, might want to embrace such a change.
Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox. | 55,053,563 |
[image description: a four paneled, colored comic featuring Team Snakemouth in the middle of a meeting. Kabbu stands in front of a board reading: “How to stop Mothiva”. “Ask nicely” and “Start our own pop group” are crossed out below. Kabbu gestures to the board and asks, “Any other ideas team?” Vi and Leif sit at a table. Vi is munching on a donut while Leif raises a hand saying, “We have an idea.” Kabbu looks excited at this and says, “Good! …. Nothing illedgal, right?” There is a pause as Leif leans back, puffs up a little and replies, “… We no longer have an idea.” Vi raises a hand and says, “I want to hear Leif’s idea!” End id.]
Their dynamic is one anime Lawful wrangling two Chaotics | 55,053,666 |
Melissa Marshall Vine
Our Fellows
Melissa Marshall Vine
1992 Global Fellow
Founder of Appalachian Birth Partner Project
Melissa Marshall Vine
1992 Global Fellow
Experience
Melissa Marshall Vine has an incredible passion for Maternal and Child Health, and has worked in the trenches for the under-served in the United States throughout her career. Melissa’s patients are vulnerable, and include the uninsured and new refugees from war-torn countries with poor health literacy. As she has advanced in her career, she has become more involved in her role as a change agent on a broader scale, where resources are limited and the solutions must be more creative. Currently, she is working with local leaders to improve Maternal and Child Health outcomes in her community through her role as the Associate Medical Director at Family Care Health Centers, and through board work at the Maternal Child Family Health Coalition. Melissa has also been tirelessly working to improve maternal and infant mortality in Nepal through the development of a rural hospital in the Manang District.
Bold Idea and summary information may only be accurate as of the awarding of the Fellowship. Echoing Green attempts to maintain current Experience information, but for their most recent status it may be best to contact the Fellow directly. | 55,053,706 |
Association between atrial fibrillation and appropriate implantable cardioverter defibrillator therapy: results from a prospective study.
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with significant morbidity and mortality that may be related to hemodynamic impairment, thromboembolic events, or enhanced electrical instability of the ventricular myocardium. There is, however, a lack of data concerning the association of AF and ventricular tachyarrhythmias. Consecutive patients with indication for an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) were classified for the presence or absence of persistent AF at the time of device implantation. Incidence of device therapy, stored electrograms, and clinical events during follow-up were evaluated prospectively. Two hundred fifty patients were included. During follow-up (20+/-14 months), patients in AF experienced appropriate device therapy for recurrent ventricular arrhythmias more frequently compared with patients in sinus rhythm (SR) (63% vs 38%, P = 0.01). On multivariate analysis, AF was an independent predictor of appropriate ICD therapy (relative risk 1.8; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.2 to 2.9) and inappropriate device therapy (relative risk 2.3; 95% CI 1.2 to 4.5). Predefined clinical events (cluster endpoint: death, syncope, and hospitalizations) were observed more frequently in AF than in SR patients (55% vs 31%, P = 0.01). Analysis of device-stored electrograms revealed a higher incidence of short-long-short cycles preceding ventricular arrhythmias in AF compared with SR patients (50% vs 16%, P = 0.002). Baseline heart rate preceding ventricular arrhythmias did not differ between the two groups. AF is an independent predictor of recurrent ventricular arrhythmias in ICD recipients. The underlying electrophysiologic mechanism seems to be irregular rather than rapid ventricular activation, with a high incidence of short-long-short sequences preceding ventricular tachyarrhythmias in AF patients. | 55,053,888 |
National Register of Historic Places listings in west Denver
__NOTOC__
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in West Denver, Colorado.
This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in western Denver, Colorado, United States. West Denver is defined as being all of the city west of the Platte River. The locations of National Register properties and districts may be seen in an online map.
There are 296 properties and districts listed on the National Register in Denver. West Denver includes 45 of these properties and districts, including 2 that extend into other regions; the city's remaining properties and districts are listed elsewhere. Another property was once listed but has been removed.
Current listings
|}
Former listing
|}
See also
List of National Historic Landmarks in Colorado
National Register of Historic Places listings in Denver, Colorado
References
West | 55,053,921 |
Near-field digital holography: a tool for plasmon phase imaging.
The knowledge of the phase distribution of the near electromagnetic field has become very important for many applications. However, its experimental observation is still technologically a very demanding task. In this work, we propose a novel method for the measurement of the phase distribution of the near electric field based on the principles of phase-shifting digital holography. In contrast to previous methods the holographic interference occurs already in the near field and the phase distribution can be determined purely from the scanning near-field optical microscopy measurements without the need for additional far-field interferometric methods. This opens a way towards on-chip phase imaging. We demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed method by reconstruction of the phase difference between interfering surface plasmon waves and by imaging the phase of a single surface plasmon wave. We also demonstrate a selectivity of the method towards individual components of the field. | 55,053,952 |
Update: diagnostic concepts in open-angle glaucoma.
New advances aided by computerized technology have been made in the detection and quantification of glaucomatous psychophysical and optic-nerve abnormalities. The aim of all these techniques is earlier detection of intraocular pressure-related damage to the optic nerve. In addition, improvements in the sensitivity and specificity of diagnostic modalities offer the possibility to better quantitate and therefore monitor the dynamics of the glaucomatous process. These devices offer great potential for pathophysiologic investigations. However, expanded research needs to be performed prior to the clinical application of the techniques discussed in this review. The future looks promising for improved methods in the diagnosis and management of glaucoma. | 55,054,458 |
Functional PHP
Functional PHP
Functional programming. Some see that term and think “functions? You mean procedural programming. I’ve been doing that for years.” Others see it and think “you mean that crazy academic nonsense that no one understands? Pfft!”
In truth, functional programming is fundamentally an approach to software development, not a particular language or syntax. With PHP 5.3, it is an approach that is now more readily available and powerful than ever before. Even if you’re not writing in Erlang or ML, there is still much to learn from the principles of functional programming to help write better code.
This session will discuss the history of functional programming and how it compares to other programming paradigms (procedural and object-oriented). We will then discuss by example how functional concepts and techniques, plus new language capabilities in PHP 5.3 such as anonymous functions can make our code more robust, maintainable, and bug-free. Even without a truly functional language, there is much we can learn from functional programming as a technique. | 55,054,570 |
Apparently monetary theory is not sexy – or at least when I write about something else than monetary issues then I get more comments and activity on my blog than when I focus on what I really care about (monetary policy as you know…)
Recently I wrote a piece on why I think the best immigration policy is “Open Borders” and that got a bit of attention and interestingly enough some of my readers who normally tend to agree with me – disagreed with me.
I do not exactly seek controversy (some would say I do), but I simply have to write another post on immigration. Bloomberg chief economist Mike McDonough yesterday shared some very interesting graphs on Twitter on the demographic outlook for Japan, China and the US.
The graphs are extremely telling – while Japan and China are facing sharply declining work age populations in the coming decades the US is likely to more or less maintain its present demographic structure.
Joe Weisenthal at the Businessinsider explains how this is possible:
The best looking, really, is the US, which has a nice evenly distributed population. The shape of the pyramid isn’t changing much, in part because our immigration policy keeps the population from getting too old.
Joe is of course right – the US is still attracting people from all around the world to come to the US to work and live and my bet (and hope) is that that will continue to be the case in the future. Immigration is part of the American success story and will continue to be so for decades to come.
PS I am in London today speaking at the CAMP Alphaville. I am on a panel on “Central banks and their jedi mind tricks” (they stole that title from Matt O’Brien) with Lorcan Roche Kelly, Josh Ryan-Collins and Paul Woolley. The Session starts at 12.30pm London time (so I better get moving…)
HT Niels Westy | 55,054,709 |
On 3. 4. 2001 the community trademark application no. 002161800 was filed for IMMUNOFECT (Word mark) by Immunoporation Limited before the OAMI.The goods and services in respect of which registration of the trademark was sought are in class 1. The current status of the trademark is registration expired.
Status is 'Registration expired'
The Community Trade Mark has not been renewed by the trademark owner and has therefore expired.
Nice classes
1 Chemicals and reagents for use in science and industry, for research purposes; chemical and biological products, reagents and molecules for treating cells other than for medical or veterinary use and for research purposes only; chemicals and biological materials for transfection, transformation or trans-membrane transfer, for research purposes; and kits for transfection of cells. | 55,054,889 |
Changes in lipid composition and lipogenic enzyme activities in liver of lambs fed omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids.
Twenty-four lambs (Ovis aries) were used in a 45-day finishing study to evaluate the effects of feeding diets high in linoleic acid (C(18:2), omega-6) on liver lipid composition and on lipogenic enzyme activities in subcellular fractions of liver. Lambs were fed either a 5% safflower oil (SO, high linoleic acid) supplemented diet or a control diet without added oil. SO feeding caused a reduction in the amount of serum and liver triacylglycerols and cholesterol, whereas the level of phospholipids in both tissues was hardly affected. In liver of SO-treated lambs an increase in the levels of C(18:2) and arachidonic acid (C(20:4), omega-6), together with a simultaneous decrease of saturated fatty acids, was observed. In comparison to rat liver, rather low activities of enzymes in the pathway for de novo fatty acid synthesis, i.e. acetyl-CoA carboxylase and fatty acid synthase, were found in lamb-liver cytosol. Both enzyme activities, as well as those of the NADPH-furnishing enzymes, were significantly reduced by SO feeding. In contrast, microsomal and especially mitochondrial fatty acid chain elongation activity, the latter being much higher than that of rat liver, were significantly increased in SO-treated lambs. In these animals, a stimulation of triangle up(9)-desaturase activity was observed in liver microsomes. | 55,054,900 |
An immunotherapy drug delivery system created at Yale that can carry multiple drugs inside a tiny particle is heading toward its first phase of clinical trials for a possible new treatment for cancer.
The delivery system, a nanogel developed in the lab of associate professor Tarek Fahmy, can be used for multiple combinations of drugs for many different cancers and some immune disorders. The platform is designed to deliver multiple drugs with different chemical properties. A single particle can carry hundreds of drug molecules that concentrate in the tumor, increasing the efficacy of the drug combination while decreasing its toxicity.
Fahmy describes the delivery system as a kind of “rational” therapy, in that it fuses established biological and clinical findings to the emerging field of nanotechnology.
“It creates a new solution that could potentially deal a significant blow to cancer and even autoimmune disease in future applications,” said Fahmy, who teaches biomedical engineering and immunobiology.
The first use of this delivery system will be a drug known as IMM-01. A multi-pronged treatment for metastatic cancer, it contains two agents: Interleukin-2 (IL-2) and an inhibitor of tissue growth factor (TGF beta). IL-2 amplifies the body’s immune system, while the TGF-beta inhibitor dampens the cancer cells’ ability to hide from the immune system. Because their size and makeup differ greatly, the two agents would normally be incompatible. Fahmy, however, developed a novel biodegradable gel that can contain both drugs and then release them in the tumor.
TVM Life Science Ventures VII is providing funding to Modulate Therapeutics Inc. to develop the drug to clinical proof of concept. Modulate secured the rights to IMM-01 from Yale and the Yale start-up company Immunova L.L.C., which was co-founded by Fahmy, Johns Hopkins University professor of oncology Ephraim Fuchs, and entrepreneur Bernard Friedman.
Friedman noted that the complexity of disease biology often hinders treatments. “Successful therapies must strike multiple targets,” he said. “The technology developed by Dr. Fahmy provides an elegant solution.”
“It’s about leveraging the biology of the system, not fighting it,” added Brian Horsburgh, CEO of Immunova and Modulate. “You want to wake up the immune system and harness that.”
Yale’s Office of Cooperative Research (OCR) helped launch Immunova in 2012 and develop Fahmy’s drug delivery technology. Fahmy is a member of the Yale Cancer Center.
“It’s great to see this technology moving forward to the clinic, and we’re hopeful that this will be the first of many life-saving drugs to use this technology,” said Dr. John Puziss, director of technology licensing in OCR. | 55,055,010 |
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Jesus Christ Bearing His Cross. After Raphael - [Illustration to] Fragment Fourth, Of the Exterior of Man, and of Some Other Analogous Indications. Additions to Chapters I. II. III. Addition Z. [in Volume III of] Essays on physiognomy designed to promote the knowledge and the love of mankind.
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Jesus Christ Bearing His Cross. After Raphael - [Illustration to] Fragment Fourth, Of the Exterior of Man, and of Some Other Analogous Indications. Additions to Chapters I. II. III. Addition Z. [in Volume III of] Essays on physiognomy designed to promote the knowledge and the love of mankind. | 55,055,608 |
What determines permissions within an app in Appy Pie?
When you create an App with Appy Pie the permissions within the app could vary between 2 and 20. Applications use a lot of permissions including those needed to access the SD card, use the Internet and so on. Google & Apple do a great job of displaying what permissions an app uses before installing.
Now while creating an app, you decide to use the One touch call so your users can call you that will mean Phone/ SMS permissions would need to be added to your app, similarly if you decide to add your office location to your app so that your clients can get turn by turn directions to your office, this will mean that location permissions would need to be added to your app and so on, the point we are trying to make here is that each feature within your app might needs specific permissions. To make the process simpler for our users, we have added a standard set of permissions on all apps so you are not at risk of getting your account suspended because of permission issues.
Update: Now Android gives you the ability to control your app permissions on Android 6.0 and up for details refer to https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/6270602?hl=en
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Thank you for letting us know! We’d love to hear how we can improve this article. | 55,055,892 |
While Mitt Romney and Paul D. Ryan are campaigning on a promise to “preserve and protect” Medicare, their proposal to revamp the popular government health insurance program would be the plan’s biggest gamble since it was created nearly half a century ago.
The members of the Republican presidential ticket argue that giving seniors vouchers to shop for a private insurance plan would spark competition among health insurers, holding down costs and ensuring the long-term viability of Medicare.
But several previous experiments with privatizing Medicare insurance coverage have ended up raising costs to taxpayers. And on the other side, there is little evidence that moving millions of elderly and disabled patients into commercial health plans will protect their coverage or tame the nation’s skyrocketing healthcare tab.
“Doubling down on private insurers is a risky proposition,” said University of North Carolina health policy professor Jonathan Oberlander, a leading Medicare historian. “Medicare has lost money on private plans for a long time.”
In recent days, the campaign debate has focused on one element of the Medicare puzzle: President Obama’s effort to reduce Medicare spending by about $716 billion over the next decade as part of his healthcare overhaul. Romney, accusing Obama of “raiding” the program, says he would restore that money. Ryan, who once proposed the same cuts, now says he agrees with his running mate.
By restoring the spending that was cut, Romney and Ryan would open a large deficit in Medicare, pushing the program’s main trust fund into the red in just four years, rather than 12 under Obama’s plan. The former Massachusetts governor hasn’t said how he would address that.
The sniping over those cuts, however, obscures bigger questions about what Medicare will look like for the roughly 50 million elderly and disabled Americans who rely on it.
In the face of unsustainable costs, Obama is pursuing a Medicare strategy, enacted in his 2010 healthcare law, that relies heavily on federal administration of the insurance program to force doctors and hospitals to improve their quality and efficiency. That is designed to preserve the program largely in its current form.
Romney, Ryan and other Republicans say that approach won’t work.
“The future of Medicare should be marked by competition, choice, and by innovation, rather than bureaucracy, stagnation and bankruptcy,” Romney said last fall when he unveiled his Medicare plan. “Tomorrow’s seniors should have the freedom to choose what their health coverage looks like.”
If Romney and Ryan are wrong, however, seniors would end up paying much more for medical coverage. The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan federal agency, estimates that Ryan’s latest plan -- which closely parallels Romney’s -- would increase the average cost for a senior entering the program in 2030 by as much as $2,200 a year.
To be sure, there is no guarantee Obama’s strategy will preserve Medicare. Previous efforts to squeeze payments to medical providers have a mixed record. The government’s own actuaries suggest the deep cuts contemplated in the Affordable Care Act could drive some hospitals and doctors out of business.
Under the president’s plan, Medicare’s main trust fund is still projected to begin running in the red in 2024 as baby boomers flood the program and their medical bills outpace the payroll taxes that finance benefits. This year, the trustees overseeing Medicare urged lawmakers to act “as soon as possible” to shore up the program’s finances.
Republicans have long tried to enlist insurance companies to do this, by replacing Medicare’s current structure of standardized benefits and premiums.
In a privatized system, individual insurance companies could offer varied benefits and premiums as they compete to attract seniors.
Seniors, in turn, would use a voucher with a value linked to the cost of available insurance plans. Seniors who want a more expensive plan would have to pay the difference.
Romney and Ryan, while providing little detail about their plan, say they would preserve the current Medicare program as an option -- although the voucher would not necessarily cover the cost of enrolling. They would delay implementation of the plan for 10 years, allowing all Americans now 55 or older to get into the current system.
Critically, many premium support plans, including Ryan’s, limit how quickly the value of the voucher would increase over time. That means that if insurance premiums rise more quickly than the value of the voucher, seniors -- and not the federal government -- would have to pay more. That would ensure Medicare spending remains in check while shifting risk to individual seniors.
The additional options in such a system should be welcome to retirees, said the Heritage Foundation’s Robert A. Moffit, a former Reagan administration healthcare official. “Seniors are making all kinds of choices all the time,” he said. “It’s probably more challenging to find the right doctor or the right specialist.”
It remains unclear whether private insurance companies, which typically have higher administrative costs and pay more to hospitals and other providers, would do better than the current Medicare program at holding down costs.
Over the last decade, costs grew more quickly in the commercial insurance market than they did in Medicare. Between 2006 and 2010, Medicare spending per person increased 4.2% a year, while per capita spending by commercial plans grew 4.5%.
Insurance companies haven’t done much better insuring Medicare beneficiaries.
The federal government for years has given seniors the option to select a commercial insurer to administer benefits through the Medicare Advantage program. Today, about a quarter of Medicare beneficiaries participate in the program.
Some private insurers have been able to reduce costs and better manage care for seniors. But independent assessments of the Medicare Advantage program have found that on average, these private plans are more expensive than traditional Medicare, costing taxpayers 7% more per person, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.
Since 2006, Medicare has also relied exclusively on private health plans to provide seniors with the Part D prescription drug benefit. That program is often cited as a success because costs have been lower than projected.
It is not clear that private insurance plans deserve the credit, however. Nationwide, spending on pharmaceuticals has slowed dramatically in recent years as cheaper, generic drugs became available and few new blockbusters entered the market.
While commercial health plans may have secured some savings for Medicare, the government Medicaid program for the poor, which negotiates drug prices with manufacturers, saved more than twice as much on top brand-name drugs in 2009, according to the Department of Health and Human Services inspector general.
That suggests the private plans may actually have increased costs to the federal government, said Edwin Park, a former Clinton administration health analyst now at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
“There is just very little in the Part D experience that suggests that private-sector competition will be able to produce huge savings for Medicare without just shifting costs to beneficiaries,” he said.
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[email protected] | 55,055,912 |
Introduction
============
In this study we created a database to analyse the incidence and types of critical incidents that occurred during the interhospital transfer of critically ill patients. The transfer of critically ill patients presents important risks and the safety of patients has been shown to be facilitated by the development of standard equipment and specialist teams \[[@B1]\]. The West of Scotland Shock team is a designated regional transfer service based in Glasgow. We are involved in the interhospital transfer of patients and not primary retrieval. A recent study looking at critical incidents during the intrahospital transport of the critically ill highlighted the risks posed, and recommended the monitoring of incidents in order to aid the continuous improvement in patient safety \[[@B2]\]. No similar study has been carried out looking at the interhospital transport of the critically ill patient.
Methods
=======
The study was a cross-sectional analysis of critical incidents occurring during interhospital transport that were reported to the West of Scotland Shock Team critical incident database set up in September 2005. The information obtained was categorised into: (a) where the incident took place, (b) type of incident, (c) written description of events, (d) outcome (potential or actual harm to the patient) and (e) designation of the staff member reporting the incident.
Results
=======
A total of 199 transfers were performed over the 6-month period. Thirty-four critical incidents were reported. Twenty-four (70%) incidents took place before, seven (21%) during and three (9%) after transfer. No patients sustained actual harm, 29 (85%) were perceived by the reporter to have suffered potential harm and the most common cause of this were delays in the transfer. No potential or actual harm was perceived in five (15%) of the incidents. Fifty-three per cent of events were reported by senior house officer grade and 47% of incidents were reported by a specialist registrar. Only one incident was reported by a nurse on the team.
Conclusion
==========
Interhospital transport of critically ill patients can pose important risks. In our study no actual patient harm occurred although most incidents had the potential to cause harm. The majority of incidents were caused by system-based factors. This database has allowed us to perform continuous service development and education of staff.
######
Causes of all incidents (irrespective of patient outcome)
----------------------------- ----------
Communication problem 10 (29%)
Organisational delay 7 (21%)
Lack of staff 2 (6%)
Equipment failure 9 (26%)
Poor preparation of patient 5 (15%)
Staff injury 1 (3%)
----------------------------- ----------
| 55,055,991 |
Foxie herself was born in August of 1976 into a lonely life. Subjected to laboratory research on hepatitis vaccines, Foxie was compelled to produce more chimpanzees for research. But she never got to raise them.
"When she arrived at the sanctuary she was aloof for a time around humans and cautious about her surroundings," Diana Goodrich, of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, told The Dodo. "She would not play with or even touch any of the toys and other items we gave the chimps." | 55,056,193 |
Extraordinary Changes in the Electronic Structure and Properties of CdS and ZnS by Anionic Substitution: Cosubstitution of P and Cl in Place of S.
Unlike cation substitution, anion substitution in inorganic materials such as metal oxides and sulfides would be expected to bring about major changes in the electronic structure and properties. In order to explore this important aspect, we have carried out first-principles DFT calculations to determine the effects of substitution of P and Cl on the properties of CdS and ZnS in hexagonal and cubic structures and show that a sub-band of the trivalent phosphorus with strong bonding with the cation appears in the gap just above the valence band, causing a reduction in the gap and enhancement of dielectric properties. Experimentally, it has been possible to substitute P and Cl in hexagonal CdS and ZnS. The doping reduces the band gap significantly as predicted by theory. A similar decrease in the band gap is observed in N and F co-substituted in cubic ZnS. Such anionic substitution helps to improve hydrogen evolution from CdS semiconductor structures and may give rise to other applications as well. | 55,056,330 |
The past week has seen a surge of claims on social media that arson is to blame for most of Australia's massive bushfires.
But these have mostly been based on inaccurate reporting of police figures, as BBC Outside Source's Ros Atkins explains.
Read more: Australia fires: Misleading maps and pictures go viral | 55,056,362 |
Helms-Man Transformers
Since 1976 Helms-Man Transformers have been serving the world’s electronic and electric industries by designing and manufacturing world class certified adaptors, power transformers and switching mode power supplies for our global customers on ODM or OEM basis.
Nowadays at Helms-Man Transformers ISO 9001 – accredited factory in south China, the company producing 100K plus pieces of various standards of power supplies everyday to help customers to distribute their products to the global market not only with the lowest possible cost but also in the shortest possible lead time. | 55,056,621 |
“It's not a question of if, just
when,” Daley told UK daily The Sun. “I've always said
I'll keep diving as long as my body lets me. But the beauty of being
an athlete is you retire young and you've got your whole life ahead
of you.”
Daley and fiance Dustin Lance Black are
planning to marry in August.
“Once I've finished with diving there
are gong to be other avenues I'd like to explore,” Daley
added. “Family has always been a massive thing.” | 55,056,686 |
Friday marks the 36th anniversary of the Seitz decision, a ruling by arbitrator Peter Seitz that stated that any major league player who played one year for a team without a contract became a free agent. The ruling wiped out baseball’s cherished reserve clause, setting the stage for players to earn more money than they ever imagined. From that moment on, one team has been more generous in bestowing those riches than any other: the New York Yankees.
The Yankees are the team that’s synonymous with big spending, so eager to spend big bucks for top talent that they made Catfish Hunter the first big-ticket free agent in baseball history a year before free agency was a thing. They’re the team that has pulled off a big free-agent signing or traded for a big-money player more or less every year, for 36 years in a row.
That New York’s streak might come to an end this year tells us a little about the current crop of free agents, and a lot about how the Yankees do business now.
It’s a shallow group of free agents by historical standards. Only three players will end up with nine-figure contracts, with seven players likely to rake in $50 million or more. The positions those few elite free agents play mostly ran up against the Yankees’ biggest strengths and areas of depth: Mark Teixeira’s got five years left on his $180 million deal and Jesus Montero is poised to become the next star in the Bronx, so there was no room for Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder. Derek Jeter’s nearing the end, but signing Jose Reyes or Jimmy Rollins was still a practical impossibility. A loaded class of closers is irrelevant when you’ve got Mariano Rivera, not to mention nasty setup man David Robertson waiting in the wings.
But the fact that the Yankees were so well covered at these and nearly every other position speaks volumes about the job Brian Cashman has done the past few years. The Yankees have become more adept at recognizing talent, deciding who stays and who goes, and resisting the urge to break the bank or ditch a premium prospect for no good reason than at any other time in years — maybe decades.
From 1982 through 1994, the Yankees missed the playoffs 13 years in a row, the team’s longest stretch of futility since Babe Ruth’s arrival. Each failure made George Steinbrenner progressively angrier, more frustrated, and more eager to do something rash. Though the Yankees signed their share of free agents in those days, Steinbrenner’s signature move was to strip-mine the farm system, ordering good prospects to be traded even when the return wasn’t anything special. Trading Doug Drabek and two other players for an aging Rick Rhoden and two relievers was bad. Shipping Jay Buhner to Seattle for Ken Phelps was, as Frank Costanza would tell you, grounds for prosecution.
Then came the dynasty. The Yankees won four World Series in five years, and looked poised to win a fifth in 2001 until they got Womacked. Losing for years can make a team increasingly antsy to make a big move. But tasting success over and over, then falling just short in heartbreaking fashion, can foster similar levels of angst. The Yankees had brought in plenty of outside help during their four-title run, but acquiring players like Tino Martinez, Paul O’Neill, and Scott Brosius didn’t require massive expenditures of money or talent. After the 2001 loss, Steinbrenner and Cashman started to raise the stakes.
The strategy mostly worked, at first. Homegrown players like Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, and Rivera had grown from up-and-comers to veteran fixtures through the World Series years. But the team’s complementary players started to grow old and increasingly ineffective. Spotting that trend, the Yankees signed Hideki Matsui from Japan, and reaped major benefits. Short-term contracts for still-solid veterans worked out even better than hoped, with Roger Clemens pitching well even as he passed age 40. Less heralded players like Robin Ventura also worked out in pinstripes. The biggest deal of the post-dynasty era also looked like a winner at first. In the first two years of his seven-year, $120 million megacontract, Jason Giambi blasted 82 homers and racked up 12 Wins Above Replacement, giving the Yankees reasonable bang for their copious bucks.
Trouble was, the Yankees weren’t winning; or, at least, they weren’t winning. In 2003, the Yanks notched their sixth straight division title, banked their second straight 100-win season, and made the playoffs for the ninth year in a row. But in the twisted world of Yankeedom, this wasn’t quite enough. Not when one of the greatest moments in franchise history was followed by Josh Beckett serving up a warm plate of STFD. So Cashman started getting even more aggressive.
He traded for Kevin Brown in the 2003-04 offseason, absorbing the $31.5 million Brown was due to make for the next two seasons in the hopes that he had something left at age 39 and 40. Brown wasn’t as bad as his 6.50 ERA in 2005 might suggest, yielding a .385 batting average on balls in play that year that was likely due partly to eroding skills, but also to bad luck. Gary Sheffield got a three-year deal extending into his late 30s; Year 1 was a success, Year 2 a disappointment, Year 3 a gigantic disaster. Expecting too much of old players became a damaging theme for the Yankees. But the team overreached in other ways, too. In the offseason of 2004-05, desperately needing capable starting pitchers to patch the rotation, the Yanks spent a combined $61 million on free agents Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright. Wright was terribly injury-prone; Pavano’s health issues were further in his past, but he brought the added risk of being a finesse pitcher coming off success in pitcher-friendly Miami, now going to the Bronx. The two pitchers teamed up to deliver 3.7 WAR over the seven years of their combined contracts.
Maybe it was the trauma of watching Carl Pavano spend four years doing everything other than actually pitch. But the types of deals Cashman made and the types of players he targeted thereafter were dramatically different from what he’d done before. The biggest change was to avoid paying up for old veterans. Cashman may have been learning along with the rest of baseball that players producing at high levels into their late 30s and early 40s wasn’t sustainable. Maybe he was specifically reacting to his own errors. Either way, he came to realize that having more spending power than everyone else only helps if you devote your resources to signing elite players in or near their prime, not older players or those with mediocre talent.
When the Rangers soured on Alex Rodriguez and his huge contract, the Yankees happily flipped Alfonso Soriano for him and got multiple MVP-caliber years for their trouble. When CC Sabathia hit the open market as one of the top pitchers in baseball with youth and unmatched durability on his side, they (smartly) didn’t blink at his $161 million asking price. When Rivera’s deals kept expiring, the Yankees kept re-signing him, because when Mariano Rivera had to pick out the correct Holy Grail he chose wisely. Like any other GM, Cashman still made mistakes. The same offseason he signed Sabathia, he also gifted $82.5 million to A.J. Burnett, a move that looks awful now. He’s also overpaid several incumbent Yankees to stay in town. In those cases, though, other factions may have intervened: We know that Randy Levine insisted on tossing a few extra million into a Jeter three-year deal that had little to no chance of paying off, and that Cashman wanted nothing to do with the $35 million the Yankees foolishly chucked at Rafael Soriano.
Perhaps the biggest change in Cashman’s approach has been the way he values the team’s own prospects. Three years ago, he dealt Jose Tabata and three other young players to Pittsburgh for Damaso Marte and Xavier Nady. Two years ago, he forgot the cardinal rule: Never trade anything of value to bring Javier Vazquez to New York. But Cashman has grown increasingly stingy in his willingness to give up homegrown potential stars. He held on to Robinson Cano for years amid swirling trade speculation and concerns about his young second baseman’s unrefined approach, and got an MVP candidate for his patience. He’s resisted all overtures for phenom Jesus Montero, preferring to let the 22-year-old slugger swing for the fences in Yankee Stadium next year, not somewhere else. Though they might still get dealt at some point, Cashman’s refusal to sell too quickly on pitching prospects Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances has resulted in both pitchers maturing into hot commodities with big value to both the Yankees and potential suitors. When the team does decide to part with a top prospect, it can only be if an excellent player offering multiple years of team control is available, the way Curtis Granderson was after the 2009 season.
Hanging on to top prospects doesn’t only allow those players time to ripen and potentially become useful players on the big league club. It can also allow the Yankees to save money at select positions, paying half a million to a rookie where they might’ve once paid $10 million to a 38-year-old. If a thrifty approach seems puzzling given the Yankees’ massive revenue streams, consider the new luxury tax codified in the recently ratified collective bargaining agreement. Cashman has his eye squarely on the $189 million luxury tax threshold to avoid paying big penalties; if Montero’s whacking 30 homers a year in New York and making the league minimum, you’ve solved two potential problems at once.
But here’s the real $189 million question: Are prudence and austerity the right ways to run baseball’s marquee franchise? The Yankees have won just one World Series in the past 11 seasons. In 2010, they had a chance to trade for Cliff Lee, the best pitcher in baseball that year. As with all trade rumors, we can never exactly know what was discussed, and who may have turned down which offer. But the Yankees had Montero and other enticing prospects at their disposal to trade for Lee and Lee instead went to the Rangers, who rode the lefty’s dominant performance in the ALDS and ALCS to the World Series that year, knocking off the Yanks in the process. When Lee spurned New York’s advances that offseason, the Yankees went bottom-fishing instead, taking flyers on Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia. Amazingly, both panned out. Still, there was a sense that last season’s team needed another front-line starter to make a title run. The Yankees never got that arm, watching the trade deadline pass without any major activity, then bowing out of the playoffs for a second straight year.
You can now make it three straight years that the Yankees could really use a strong no. 2 starter to slot in behind Sabathia. But the team’s lowball bid on Yu Darvish and lack of strong interest in C.J. Wilson and Mark Buehrle point to a GM who either didn’t want to spend a ton of money on free-agent pitchers this winter, didn’t like the names that were out there, or both.
Of all the lessons Cashman has learned in the past decade, none resonate more than this: The playoffs can be random, capricious, and cruel. He might still pursue a starting pitcher via trade, sign someone like Hiroki Kuroda as a solid tier-two option, or upgrade the roster in other ways. But if he doesn’t, he can look at a team built with true stars, not retreads, one with rare upside for a Yankees club with Montero poised to improve over a 162-game season. If the Yankees do nothing else this offseason, they’d be a strong bet to get back to the playoffs, where they’d have about as good a chance as anyone of going all the way.
The New York Yankees have become more frugal than they have in years, with enough patience to make them baseball’s most unlikely story of Zen. Wonder what George would say if he could see them now.
Jonah Keri’s new book, The Extra 2%: How Wall Street Strategies Took a Major League Baseball Team from Worst to First, is a national best-seller. Follow him on Twitter at @JonahKeri.
Previously from Jonah Keri:
Will Yu Darvish End The AL East’s Grip On The Wild Card?
Who Do ‘Yu’ Think Your Are?
Who Should Sign Prince Fielder?
What Do We Really Know About Ryan Braun?
To comment on this story through Facebook, click here. | 55,056,825 |
Q:
SQL statement to count corresponding entries while having a strict sequence (logical)
I want to aggregate the number of (identical) parts in my production plan while preserving the sequence.
My table looks like this:
-------------------------------------------------
|Part Number | Production Sequence Number | .... |
-------------------------------------------------
| 1| 1| .... |
--------------------------------------------------
| 1| 2| .... |
--------------------------------------------------
| 2| 3| .... |
--------------------------------------------------
| 2| 4| .... |
--------------------------------------------------
| 1| 5| .... |
--------------------------------------------------
And I need to count the amount of same parts in a row:
Expected result:
-------------------------------------------------
|Part Number | Nr of pieces in a row | .... |
-------------------------------------------------
| 1| 2| .... |
-------------------------------------------------
| 2| 2| .... |
-------------------------------------------------
| 1| 1| .... |
-------------------------------------------------
Can this be done by only unsing SQL (MySQL)?
A:
You may use variable to emulate numbers and then perform GROUP BY
SELECT id, COUNT(*)
FROM
(
SELECT
@row_number:=CASE
WHEN @seq_num = id THEN @row_number
ELSE @row_number + 1
END AS num,
@seq_num:=id as id,
seq_num
FROM tab, (SELECT @row_number:=0, @seq_num := 1) t
ORDER BY seq_num
) t
GROUP BY num, id
demo
| 55,057,186 |
Q:
Extract value demited by delimiter after a particular word
Suppose a have a main string something like:
"The last prices are Samsung(100.59), Nokia(35.23), Apple(199.34)".
Is there any method to extract the value from this String by sending the names?
public Double getValue(String name);
So the getValue("Nokia") will return 35.23 and getValue(Apple) will return 199.34.
A:
You can do this with regex
public Double getValue(String name){
Pattern p = Pattern.compile("(?<=" + name + "\\()\\d+\\.\\d+(?=\\))");
Matcher m = p.matcher("<your matcher string>");
m.find();
return Double.parseDouble(m.group());
}
| 55,057,397 |
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
No Soccer Moms in Saudi
Richard Cohen wrote about the absurd plight of women in Saudi Arabia in the Washington Post today. His reactions are the same as mine when I lived there in late 1990, in the period leading up to the Gulf War. When asked about the time difference in phone calls to Washington, I often responded, "We're eight hours ahead of you and eight centuries behind you." Cohen refers to a rare 1990 protest in this primitive country, when about 50 women took to the streets behind the wheels of cars, protesting because they weren't (and still aren't) allowed to drive cars. I was meeting daily with a Saudi major general who was sort of my counterpart and had become a friend. I asked him the next day what he would have done if one of his wives had been arrested for driving a car in the protest. The general responded that he would have left her in jail to teach her a lesson. | 55,057,400 |
1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a control apparatus/method for an internal combustion engine having a supercharger connected to an intake passage and driven by a motor.
2. Description of Related Art
An attempt to provide an intake passage of an engine (internal combustion engine) with a motor-driven supercharger and to achieve a high output (or low fuel consumption) through supercharging performed by the supercharger has generally been made. Such an internal combustion engine is disclosed also in Published Japanese translation of a PCT application JP-T-2001-518590. In the internal combustion engine disclosed in Published Japanese translation of a PCT application JP-T-2001-518590, an intake passage is bifurcated into two branch flow passages, which are combined into one flow passage again. A supercharger driven by a motor is connected to one of the branch flow passages. A combined portion of the branch flow passages is provided with a switching valve that changes the branch flow passage from which intake air flows toward the downstream side. When the supercharger is operated, the switching valve opens the branch flow passage that is provided with the supercharger, and closes the branch flow passage that is not provided with the supercharger. On the contrary, when the supercharger is not operated, the switching valve closes the branch flow passage that is provided with the supercharger, and opens the branch flow passage that is not provided with the supercharger. In this manner, while the supercharger is prevented from causing a loss in intake air, the backflow of intake air is prevented.
The state of switching valve in the internal combustion engine disclosed in Published Japanese translation of a PCT application JP-T-2001-518590 mentioned above is changed in accordance with a difference between a pressure in each of branch pipes on the upstream side and a pressure in an intake pipe on the downstream side. If the switching valve is designed to make use of a differential pressure as described above, the state of the switching valve may be inappropriately changed and the flow of the intake air may pause for a moment. For example, if the supercharger is stopped from performing supercharging, the state of the switching valve is changed after stoppage of the supercharger, and the flow of air is created in the branch pipe that is not provided with the supercharger. At this moment, the flow of intake air pauses, and the internal combustion engine may be operated discontinuously. | 55,057,472 |
Destination Disneyland finished up last weekend. A three day adventure filled crazy weekend to the Magic Kingdom.
We (Sherry, Mike, the four kids and me) left on Friday right after work (I don’t have a girl to go on vacations with, so Mike and Sher are cool to let me tag along on theirs so I don’t have to sit home and stare at the wall. Plus we were meeting a bunch of other friends there, so it wasn’t just a family vacation but a friends and family vacation) The trip was a surprise for the kids, so for the entire ride to the airport and the airplane ride down, they kept asking where we were going. I kept telling them that we were going to visit a broccoli farm, When we got the airplane tickets they looked and saw the destination as being “Orange County”… So then they got “county” and “country” confused and they started asking, “Orange Country where’s that?” And we started telling them that it was an orange orchard and farm that we were visiting and that they let you do a bunch of cool stuff there like, pick oranges from the tree and squeeze your own orange juice and stuff, it’ll be fun!” When we finally reached the airport down south, the airport let the cat out of the bag with all the Disneyland 50th anniversary banners everywhere. We still insisted that yeah, Disneyland is down here, but we scheduled our three days to see the orange farm, if we had more days, we could see Disneyland, but, oh well, not this time. They weren’t buying it though.
We made it to the hotel which was just a few blocks from Disneyland, and got checked in, Deb and Andrew were already checked in at the place and Deb met us, but Andrew was working a convention around the corner from the hotel, so he wasn’t there. Vince, a long time friend of Sherry’s and ours, who now lives in LA, was on his way to meet us there and was joining in on the whole weekend adventure. Sherry, Mike and the kids got a family suite, and I got a suite next door to them where Vince and I were going to crash. Vince is way cool dude, easy going, mellow, down to Earth, and 100% completely gay. So, when Mike and I got into mine and Vince’s room, we both at the same time immediately zeroed in on the one King bed, Mike just gave me a pat on the shoulder and said, “Have fun with that.” Then Sherry came and joined in and started saying, “Why didn’t you get two beds?!?” and I said, “I didn’t know there were choices! You were the one who was checking us all in, all you did was scream for my credit card to pay for the room… I didn’t know what was going on!!” Luckily, we found that the couch had a pull out bed, so I was okay. Vince finally showed up and I told him he could have the bed, and that I’ll take the couch-bed, he said we could share the big bed if I wanted to and that he wouldn’t do anything, which I’m sure was the truth because he’s very respectful, he’s more like a brother, we’ve known each other so long… I was more worried that I might start dreaming about Jolene Blalock (Sub-Commander T’Pol on Star Trek, yummy) and while, in my dreams, snuggling with Jolene, I’d be the one grabbing for something in the middle of the night and wake up all spooning Vince!… “uh, nah, that’s alright, I’ll take the couch-bed… Thanks anyway” (God! how come no single girls ever come on these trips!!! Grrr. Of course, if a single girl did show up, I’m sure she’d be all, “I’ll take the bed, and, Sean, you can sleep in the bathtub, or actually, out in the hall would be better.”)
Vince also brought with him a trip to the grocery store… he had bags and bags of fruit, snacks, booze, wine, bottled water, chips, everything. It was awesome. I mentioned, “Gay dudes should always do the shopping, because if it was me who was sent to the store, I’d have returned with just a six pack of beer, some beef jerky, and a Maxim magazine.”
We all went next door to listen to the kids get yelled at because they were playing around and hadn’t put away their clothes like they were told. Then all of a sudden Matt, Janet, and Matt’s son, Tyler all busted into the room wearing balloon animals on their heads, waving around balloon swords and looking like total dorks. The kids immediately grabbed the balloon swords and started swashbuckling around the room which ended up with a double yell for not finishing putting away their clothes AND for swashbuckling in the room.
That evening, the kids got parked in front of the TV and the grown ups went next door to my room for drinks and yapping… We started hearing booms and ran out on the balcony to find the Disneyland fireworks show in progress. It was really cool, we got the kids and all went out to watch them… Since I was alone, I started getting jealous of the couples that were there,… with the fireworks going off and standing out there on the balcony, I was thinking how cool it would be to have my own girl there in front of me so I could wrap my arms around her and cuddle and sway with her, smell her hair and rub the boner in my pants on her ass while we gaze up at the exploding fireworks… Wow! talk about romantic!…
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2018 Allocation to GiveWell Top Charities
We believe that every life has equal value — and that philanthropic dollars can go particularly far by helping those who are living in poverty by global standards. Currently, the best giving opportunities we’ve found in the Global Health and Development focus area are recommended by GiveWell. (Read more about our relationship to GiveWell here.)
Throughout the course of this year, we have recommended GiveWell Incubation Grants to support the development of potential future top charities, as well as general support funding for GiveWell’s operations (capped at 20% of operating expenses for reasons described here). GiveWell recently announced its updated list of top charities that focus on programs with a strong track record and excellent cost-effectiveness, can use additional funding to expand their core programs, and are exceptionally transparent. As we have in the past, we coordinated with GiveWell on how to recommend grants from Good Ventures — both in terms of the total amount donated and in terms of the distribution between recipient charities. GiveWell recommended, and we plan to approve, an allocation of $64 million for top charities in 2018.
For setting the total amount, our methodology was the same as last year’s. In brief, we started from the assumption that 10% of total available capital will eventually go to a "straightforward charity" bucket that is reasonably likely to line up fairly well with GiveWell’s work and recommendations. This 10% allocation includes a fixed percentage of total giving each year of 5% and another flexible bucket of 5%, which can be spent down quickly or slowly, based in part on GiveWell’s expectations of when funds can accomplish the most good. (For more detail, please see our blog post on our 2017 allocation.)
Based on these considerations, GiveWell set a target of spending down the flexible bucket within the next 15 years, and recommended that Good Ventures grant $64 million this year. GiveWell recommended that the $64 million be allocated to its top charities as follows:
More detail on GiveWell’s reasoning in setting this allocation (and in providing its input into the total figure) is available here.
Three of these top charities whose work primarily focuses on reducing deaths, while five implement programs that aim to increase recipients' incomes and consumption. Though some of these recommendations are still working their way through our full grantmaking process, we expect the funds will be distributed in coming weeks, and we are excited to support these cost-effective organizations. | 55,057,574 |
The history of the Castra System might be as close of a mirror to Humanity’s relationship with the Xi’An as you can find. Discovered in 2544, only 14 years after our first encounter with the Xi’An, Castra was terraformed for military use. As tensions with the Xi’An relaxed, so did the military’s presence in the system. Today, Castra is primarily a trading hub, though certain areas have stayed under military control and ready for action at a moment’s notice.
Castra is a simple system containing two planets orbiting a stunning blue-white star. It was discovered by UPE military pathfinders probing systems near the Perry Line for undiscovered jump points. After the initial exploration, early reports noted the system as “unremarkable” from an astronomical perspective, yet the military brass immediately grasped its strategic importance as a staging post for the brewing Xi’An conflict. The system was named Castra, after the ancient Roman term for land used by the military as a defensive position, and terraforming of its second planet began immediately.
Decades later the system was thrust into the front lines of the conflict when a jump point from Castra to Oya with its burgeoning Xi’An colony was discovered. As government funding flooded the system to improve its defensive fortifications and military infrastructure, it quickly changed from a mere staging post into a focal point of the Xi’An cold war. A large orbital platform was even built to support capital ships and long-range bombers, which were ever ready to attack Xi’An space should the order be given. The station has since been decommissioned and bought by Crusader to become a part of their commercial starliner network in the system.
In 2789, the UEE reduced their military footprint in Castra. After two centuries of strict control, the public was permitted to move into the system. The decision was, and still is for some, a controversial one. A hawkish minority of military bureaucrats and political elites believe the system best serves the Empire as a dedicated (and solitary) military outpost.
Upon Castra’s conversion, businesses arrived in droves to take advantage of the system’s exceptional infrastructure and affordable real estate. At this point, that makes Castra a prime destination for haulers looking to offload raw materials and leave with goods. Recently, Castra’s government has pushed to increase tourism to the system in an attempt to diversify their industries.
Castra I
Castra’s first planet lacks an atmosphere or any raw materials worth mining. Still, Humans realized that Castra I was good for one thing — target practice. Designated “Bulls-eye” by the UEE Navy, this dead world was used for bombing runs during the cold war. Today, the way the system’s star reflects off Castra I’s pockmarked surface is probably the most interesting thing about it.
Castra II (Cascom)
Only Castra II is suitable for habitation. The UEE military designated the planet as Castra Command, which was shortened to Cascom — an unofficial name that has stuck, much to the dismay of some current politicians. The military terraformed the planet as fast as possible. Some scientist today even say possibly too fast, suggesting that the escalated speed at which Cascom was made ready is to blame for its pronounced cloud layer.
The military wanted to construct an ideal defensive position, so they dug into the top of Mount Ulysses to build the city of Sherman, making it both superbly secure and breathtakingly beautiful. This fortress city, situated above the clouds, has earned the nickname “Island in the Sky.” Upon seeing Sherman for the first time, Admiral Kumasi Klein famously said, “It’s the city of my dreams. Picturesque and protected by big guns.”
Since Sherman was under government control for centuries, it remains a sterling example of state-sponsored architecture. When Monumentalism was championed by Imperator Messer V, Sherman’s skyline was updated to reflect the style. Today, Sherman’s historic architecture remains as one of the primary reasons to visit the city.
Ever since the military opened the system to Citizens and civilians, Sherman has searched to define its own cultural identity. For centuries, living on Castra II was an assignment, not a choice. People from every corner of the Empire spent time there, but few put down roots. When the system opened up, industry became the planet’s most obvious new resident. Although companies like Kruger Intergalactic injected new life into the planet, they did little to give it a new identity among the masses of other imperial worlds.
That changed in 2833 when the planet elected Andre Novoselov president. President Novoselov worked closely with the business community to attract more residents to Sherman. For years, businesses had struggled to find enough employees to fill available positions. Together, they launched pro-Sherman promotional campaigns on planets around the Empire. One of those campaigns resurrected the “Island in the Sky” motif and featured the iconic image of the mountaintop city sitting above cloud cover sparkling from the light pollution of cities below. For the first time, the Empire saw Sherman as more than a military outpost or industrial park. It was President Novoselov’s hope that he would see Castra II earn representation in his lifetime, but sadly his transition from President to planetary Governor never came to pass, and the planet has yet to earn its senatorial seat.
President Novoselov’s push to populate the planet worked. As more people arrived, so did a wide variety of service industries to meet the increasing demand. Sherman became a melting pot of high-end stores, restaurants and hotels, intermixed with businesses geared toward middle-class and blue-collar workers. In many parts of the city, people in designer suits and those in graphene-toed boots shop, dine and live in the same part of town.
Recently, Cascom’s cheap real estate and scenic views have become a popular home for retirees. In an effort to attract a younger crowd, Sherman has promoted its beautiful, mountaintop location as the ’verse’s premiere extreme sports destination. For a while, paragliding above the clouds was extremely popular until numerous amateur paragliders landed on military installations and forced the city to impose a ban on the practice. Even if paragliding has been prohibited around Mount Ulysses, there is more than enough awe and adventure awaiting anyone who visits Castra II.
Heard in the Wind
“The Xi’An conflict, when it does occur — and note I say when, not if — will ultimately be determined by our strength in one system alone, Castra. I implore all of you to appropriate funds swiftly and accordingly.”
– Admiral Connelly Reeves, excerpt from a speech given to High-Command, 2716
“The strength of the lines and the unforgiving audacity of the edifice as it pierces the firmament leaves no doubt to what the intent of the structure was, nor any room to debate that the establishment of Sherman embodied the spirit of the era as much as it helped define it.”
– Reggie Chapolt, Brick by Brick, 2880 | 55,057,690 |
Wilderness Endeavors Esy School
About This School
Wilderness Endeavors Esy School is located in Togo, MN and is one of 17 schools in Grand Rapids Public School District. It is a sp-ed school that serves students in grades 6-12.
Special Education schools are public schools that provide special services for children with disabilities (special physical, mental, or learning needs). Many special education schools also provide vocational training, adapted physical education, and assistive technology for their students. See Wilderness Endeavors Esy School's test results to learn more about school performance. | 55,057,840 |
Have You Checked Out the WSO2 Machine Learner Yet?
WSO2 Machine Learner is the latest addition to the WSO2 product stack. Or, to be precise, one of the latest additions: Machine Learner only held the crown for a few weeks before WSO2 Data Analytics Server become the new kid on the block.
Nevertheless, Machine Learner is something we’re particularly proud of. As you no doubt guessed, it’s a product meant for predictive business analytics: by building models and running data through them, it allows one to quite literally peek into possible futures.
Why is this important? Well, machine learning is rapidly becoming the new frontier for businesses. We’ve gone from educated guesses to dedicated analytics: now we’re trying to predict the future.
“I keep saying the sexy job in the next ten years will be statisticians. People think I'm joking, but who would've guessed that computer engineers would've been the sexy job of the 1990s?” - Hal Varian, Chief Economist at Google
Hal Varian expects statisticians to be the next sexy job because of the sheer amounts of data and intelligence that companies need to chew through these days. At WSO2, we expect machine learning to be an integral part of what makes that job sexy. And useful.
Done right, machine learning can easily replace a small army of statisticians - especially when it comes to enterprise big data. The world isn’t (yet) at the level where we can recreate a Minority Report for businesses, but there’s a lot of work that’s gone into this space. If you don’t know the field, you should: we’d recommend this short and beautifully designed Visual Introduction to Machine Learning, courtesy of R2D3.
If you know the field, you can skip the above and go directly to what Nirmal Fernando has to say. Nirmal leads the team working on the project, and his blogpost on ML gives a quick, concise breakdown of what WSO2 Machine Learner is capable of. Part of the challenge of predictive analytics is presenting the data intelligently, something we’ve paid careful attention to with WSO2 ML.
After that, you should probably check out what Srinath Perera, our Vice President of Research, has to say: he’s written a post called “WSO2 Machine Learner: Why Would You Care?” on his personal blog. This talks about how ML is built, and the uses you can put it to.
As you can see, ML completes our analytics offerings - we now offer batch, real-time, interactive and predictive analytics, and all of these components tie into each other beautifully for creating end-to-end analytics solutions for your business.
Of course, we have plans for making Machine Learner more powerful: we plan to add neural networks, algorithmic recommendation, anomaly detection, and more - as the product evolves, we’ll keep pushing out updates.
Download Machine Learner here, and you’re good to go. Set up your models right and you can peek into the future without actually having to go at 88 miles an hour in an old DeLorean. What’s not to like?
PS: If you’d like to call for support, or suggest features, don’t hesitate to contact us. We welcome bug reports, too! | 55,057,864 |
Outstanding maneuverability and turnability, based on comparatively large steering angles and small turning radii, have helped to establish pivot steering as a type of steering in vehicles with at least two vehicle frames each having at least one rigid axle. In particular construction vehicles, such as for example vibratory rollers with two vehicle frames in each of which a tire is mounted, are often controlled with the aid of pivot steering.
Conventional pivot-steered vehicles frequently use a central pivot joint which connects the two vehicle frames on the axis of symmetry in the longitudinal direction, that is to say the longitudinal centre axis. The steering drive used is in this case usually a double-acting hydraulic cylinder which is articulated at its ends to the two vehicle frames. Depending on the desired change in the direction of travel, the piston rod of the hydraulic cylinder is extended or retracted by actuation of a pressure medium so that, viewed in the direction of travel, either the left or the right lateral edges of the vehicle frames are swiveled relative to one another.
The maximum settable pivot or steering angle of a central pivot joint of this type results from the geometrical context. The smaller the spacing between the front frame and the rear frame becomes, the smaller the maximum settable steering angle becomes, as otherwise the edges of the vehicle frames will abut one another. If a larger steering angle is striven for in order to improve maneuverability, this inevitably increases the size of the free space between the frame edges in which the pivot joint is located, giving rise to a broad range of drawbacks. On the one hand, the total length of the vehicle is increased in size; this can present difficulties during transportation, etc. Furthermore, the increase in the size of the free space between the frame edges in the longitudinal direction increases the axial spacing, as a result of which the size of the turning radius is increased while the steering turn remains the same. Furthermore, the increase in the size of the spacing between the vehicle frames is also associated with increased consumption of materials. Alternatively, in order to increase the steering turn, instead of increasing the size of the spacing between the vehicle frames, the critical frame outer edge regions, in particular corner regions, which delimit the steering turn by abutment, can be recessed and provided with a radius. Although this does not increase the size of the overall length, the recessed regions are nevertheless lost, so that the space in or on the vehicle frames for arranging machine components is reduced.
In relatively small construction machines, such as for example trench rollers, an overall length which is as short as possible is striven for, wherein there must still be sufficient space for arranging machine components. At the same time, it is necessary for the trench roller to be able to perform a steering angle which is as large as possible in order to be able to turn even in narrow and curvy trenches.
A pivot-steered agricultural vehicle with two swivel axes spaced apart from one another is known. A disadvantage of the principle applied in the pivot steering of this vehicle is that the adjustment apparatus for steering the vehicle necessarily entails a relatively large amount of construction room in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. It is also disadvantageous that a separate adjustment device, for example a hydraulic cylinder, is required for creating a pivoting movement about each swivel axis, which increases the cost and decreases the effectiveness of the steering apparatus. | 55,057,903 |
The impact of 3 strategies for incorporating polled genetics into a dairy cattle breeding program on the overall herd genetic merit.
Dehorning in cattle has been associated with behavioral, physiological, and neuroendocrine responses indicative of pain. Unaddressed, the pain associated with a routine production procedure could contribute to a negative public perception of livestock production practices. Alternative considerations of dehorning include the selection of polled cattle within herds, thereby avoiding pain and production loss. As polledness results from an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance, genetic selection for polled cattle could reduce the prevalence of the horned trait. Herein we discuss 3 strategies to incorporate polled genetics into a cow herd and the estimated impact on the overall genetic merit of the herd. Furthermore, the availability and genetic merit of polled artificial insemination bulls in the United States is summarized. Both Holstein and Jersey dairy bulls registered with the National Association of Animal Breeders from December 2010 through April 2013 were queried. Polled bulls were identified as either being homozygous (PP) or heterozygous (Pp) and the average net merit (NM) predicted transmitting ability (PTA) of each sire group was calculated. The percentage of polled calves born each year over a 10-yr period was calculated for the following 3 scenarios: (A) various percentages of horned cows were randomly mated to Pp bulls, (B) various percentages of horned cows were preferentially mated to Pp bulls, and (C) horned cows were selectively mated to PP bulls, heterozygous cows to Pp bulls, and homozygous polled cows to horned bulls. Additionally, the change in NM PTA of the cow herd was calculated over the same period. The highest percentage of polled animals (87%) was achieved in scenario C. An evaluation of the herd NM PTA highlights the trade-offs associated with increasing polled genetics. Given the current genetic merit of horned and polled bulls, increasing the percentage of polled calves will decrease the NM PTA in Holstein, but may have minimal impact in Jersey herds. Decisions regarding selective breeding to increase polled genetics will need to be evaluated in the context of production objectives, cost of dehorning, and impact on overall genetic merit. | 55,058,440 |
Application of infrared spectroscopy (attenuated total reflection) for monitoring enzymatic activity on substrate films.
Infrared film analysis, a method based on infrared spectroscopy in the mode of attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), is demonstrated as a novel analytical method for monitoring enzymatic activity on surface-attached substrate films in the mid infrared range (400-4000 cm(-1)). The ATR-FTIR technique is sensitive to molecules within a distance of approximately 1 microm from the ATR sampling unit surface (a 7 cm(2) hydrophobic ZnSe crystal). Applying a 0.2-0.3 microm thick film on the ATR unit surface, any chemical changes within this film as well as at the interface can be continuously monitored, even having an aqueous phase on top of the film. Infrared film analysis is considered especially useful for studying detergent enzymes, which act on surface bound films consisting of food component like vegetable oils (triacylglycerols) and carbohydrates (e.g. starch). Experimental data are presented for hydrolysis of a triacylglycerol film (triolein) by use of a triacylglycerol lipase (cutinase), and starch film degradation by use of an alpha-amylase. | 55,058,466 |
The city of Leander will become the new home for the nationu2019s first state-administered gold depository.
The nation’s first state-administered gold depository will be located in the city of Leander.Gov. Greg Abbott signed the existence of the Texas Bullion Depository into law after the 2015 legislative session. At the time, Abbott said having the depository would help keep Texas gold reserves secure, as well as keep taxpayer funds from leaving the state. Previously, the state paid storage fees to facilities outside of Texas.The Leander site was selected by Austin-based Lone Star Tangible Assets, the vendor hired by the State Comptroller’s office to build and operate the depository. The exact location of the site is being withheld for security reasons, but Matt Ferris, chair of Lone Star Tangible Assets, said the facility would be located near the Capital Metro railroad tracks in north Leander.Leander City Council approved an economic development agreement with Lone Star Tangible Assets for the depository during a Thursday night meeting. According to a press release from the Texas State Comptroller’s office set to be released Nov. 3, construction on the site is expected to begin in early 2018. Lone Star Tangible Assets expects the facility to be completed in late 2018 or early 2019.The depository will provide services nationwide in 2018, with international services to be offered in the future phases, according to the release.“This state-of-the-art facility will provide tremendous benefits to the citizens of Leander and will give Texans a secure facility right here in the Lone Star State where their gold and precious metals will be kept safe and close at hand,” Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar said in the press release.Ferris said Lone Star Tangible Assets is making room for more than 300 employees at the new location. He said the company will relocate its 100 current employees and add jobs as needed. He said nearly all of the company's positions are hired locally within a 50-mile radius.Leander Mayor Chris Fielder said the city is thrilled to build the depository in Leander.“As one of the safest and fastest growing communities in the nation, I can’t imagine a better place for companies in the precious metals industry to operate,” he said in the release. “We believe Leander is a growing destination for business, and I am proud to have us represent the state of Texas in this joint enterprise.” | 55,058,504 |
I did have a go at your attempt, however if I want to be able to use this on a monthly basis i would have to do the manual insert statement every time??
James
Not sure what you mean by the manual insert as mine doesn't do any inserts.
I took your original code and embedded it in the first CTE. You should uncomment that and use it instead of the SELECT/UNION ALL SELECT query inside that CTE (you said that's what your query produced).
My advice:INDEXing a poor-performing query is like putting sugar on cat food. Yeah, it probably tastes better but are you sure you want to eat it?The path of least resistance can be a slippery slope. Take care that fixing your fixes of fixes doesn't snowball and end up costing you more than fixing the root cause would have in the first place.
My advice:INDEXing a poor-performing query is like putting sugar on cat food. Yeah, it probably tastes better but are you sure you want to eat it?The path of least resistance can be a slippery slope. Take care that fixing your fixes of fixes doesn't snowball and end up costing you more than fixing the root cause would have in the first place. | 55,058,622 |
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laid back nice people.;Pvt Gomer Pile(in Full Metal Jacket.before he went nuts)basically.I know it sounds weird,but I really like the guys that look like Gomer Pile (Vincent D'onofrio).kinda thick hick type.
succesfull, rugged, young man - I never thought that going to the movies was a social event, and they're to expencive anyways, not that i don't have the money, but for what you get. I own my own house, and would rather spend time clearing brush, or hanging out inside than going anywhere. My work takes me down to anklage, which i h more
Durka Durka - Hey everyone,
Well here I am trying something new, be gentle! My name is Dirk, Im very new to this whole e- dating thing so Im not sure what to type or put in these little boxes, bear with me and Ill add it as I go!
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Seeing whats out there - Well I'm up here because of the military and will be here for 3 years at least. I'm very laid back but love to have fun trying new things. I know I should try to make myself sound more interesting but there has to be something for us to talk about if you message me
I'm sure right now I would only be inerested in a platonic relation ship, but I'll keep open if God wills it. I am interested in someone who would be a positive influence to me. I do tend to get lonly and want for some one I could relate with.
Country boy looking for some f - Im a country boy mostly raised in Washington State, worked on my grandparents and uncles ranch, I listen to rock, country and some hip hop stuff, I like hunting, wheeling anything outdoors really. Im open for anything to do, if you have any questions just shoot me an email
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Still not convinced that matchmaker is the free Denali National Park dating service for you? Once you've filled out the quick registration process you will be to see full size photos and profiles of thousands of Denali National Park singles. Did you know that free Denali National Park dating is a few clicks away? Find love and romance in Denali National Park at matchmaker today! | 55,058,738 |
Governor Brian Schweitzer of Montana signed into law SB 317, which regulates the conversion of nonprofit health insurers into for-profit businesses. The bill was passed by overwhelming majorities in both houses of the Montana Legislature and is being hailed by consumer advocates as a model for other states to emulate.
“This bill protects consumers by establishing clear directions for regulators and clear rules for nonprofit health organizations planning to convert to for-profit corporations,” stated Schweitzer. “It is among the strongest in the nation; it's good for consumers and good for business."
Senators Greg Lind (D-Missoula) and John Cobb (R-Augusta) and Representative Tom Facey (D-Missoula) sponsored the bill. “My colleagues in the Legislature and I have learned from the problems faced by regulators in states without clear nonprofit conversion laws,” said Senator Lind. “This new law will provide consumers and regulators with the tools they need to evaluate a health insurer’s proposal to convert to a for-profit business. And the health insurer itself will be aware from the outset of the roadmap it must follow if it embarks upon a conversion.”
Because of tax advantages bestowed upon nonprofit organizations, their assets are essentially owned by the public. Montana common law already requires such assets to continue to be used for a charitable health purpose if a nonprofit converts to a for-profit business. As a result of health conversions nationwide, over $18 billion has been preserved in more than 170 independent foundations that carry on the charitable mission of addressing community health needs.
According to Scott Benbow, staff attorney in Consumers Union’s West Coast Office, “Montana’s bill provides strong protections for consumers in Montana, reduces the likelihood of litigation against the state, speeds up the conversion proposal review process, and prevents the depletion of the charitable assets. We applaud Governor Schweitzer and Montana lawmakers for protecting consumers and preserving nonprofit charitable assets.”
• requires public notice, the opportunity for the public to submit comments, public hearings across the state, clear discovery powers of regulators, and unfettered public access to conversion proposals and all accompanying documents;
• creates a transparent system for distributing the assets to a foundation or another nonprofit organization, if the regulators authorize a nonprofit health insurer to become for-profit companies; and
• is revenue neutral because it requires a company proposing a conversion to pay reasonable costs by state regulators reviewing the proposal.
According to Claudia Clifford of the AARP Montana, “This law will strengthen and clarify common law protections of nonprofit dollars. In the event of a health insurer conversion, the legislation will prevent nonprofit assets from slipping into private pockets and will preserve dollars for critical health care needs. Our membership and all Montana consumers will benefit from this protection.”
While Montana nonprofit health plans maintain that they have no intention of converting, legislators acted to protect consumers and preserve health assets in advance. Rumors that one of the health plans might have been preparing to convert several years ago may have prompted lawmakers to act in the current legislative session. In so doing, they have provided clear guidance for nonprofit health insurers who might eventually consider converting to for-profit companies as well as clear criteria by which regulators must examine a proposal. | 55,058,783 |
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